New-look Rallynuts Stages Rally attracts bumper entry
Posted: April 12, 2019 5:55 AM
The 2019 Rallynuts Stages Rally is set to be one of the biggest in its 46-year history as over 130 crews head to Builth Wells this weekend for the popular annual forest stage rally (13th April).
A top-quality entry will assemble on Saturday to tackle over 44 miles of competitive driving in the nearby forests, many of which have been made famous by Britain's round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB in the past. Names such as Hafren, Sweet Lamb and Coed Sarnau Forests will offer an action-packed day’s motorsport in the region.
The rally is once again sponsored by established racewear and accessory firm Rallynuts Motorsport, who enter their fourth year as title sponsors. Their support, coupled with a progressive format helped to secure the event in the Jordan Road Surfacing BTRDA Rally Championship calendar in 2018, returning after a long break.
The event is also joined by the Pirelli Motorsport UK Welsh Rally Championship, West Wales Rally Spares HRCR Stage Masters, Brian Dennis Motorsport /Jelf Motorsport Welsh Historic Rally Championship and the FMP Rally Challenge.
In a change to the format of previous years, crews with smaller engined cars and Historic Category vehicles will lead the crews away from Builth Wells Showground on Saturday morning in a reverse seeded order, followed by the main field in a “fastest first” running order.
This means Joseph Keen and Paul Barbet will be the first to be flagged away from the ceremonial start at the Showground in their MG ZR, followed by 30 or so two-wheel-drive contenders all eager to make use of the prime road conditions ahead.
Undoubtedly though, all eyes will be on the main field of protagonists which will be led away by current Scottish Rally Champions Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton in their Focus WRC. Wearing the coveted number one on the door, the duo has won every event contested so far in 2019 and will aim to continue their winning ways at the Rallynuts Stages, despite having never contested the event previously.
Winning the event in 2017, Northern Irishman Connor McCloskey returns in a bid to engrave his name on the trophy once again this year, ably co-driven by John Rowan in a Fiesta R5+. His pace on the mid-Wales stages is proven, but such is the strength of the entry this year, a second win is far from guaranteed.
Stephen Petch and Michael Wilkinson bring their Fiesta WRC from Durham and will be aiming to put their three retirements this season behind them and gain some valuable BTRDA points.
Ollie Mellors will bring one of the latest FIA specification R5 machines to the event, as the Proton Iriz R5 heads to Wales. Co-driven by Max Freeman, the Proton is well proven with second place on the Riponian Rally already this year.
Rounding out the top five is Charles Payne and Carl Williamson in their Fiesta WRC. They are followed by a gaggle of front runners who are all capable of taking overall rally victory.
Other notable names include British Historic front-runners Ben Friend and Cliff Simmons in their Ford Escort MK2 whilst George Lepley and Arwel Jenkins will vie for BTRDA Historic and Silver Star honours in their Hillman Avenger. Directors of event sponsors Rallynuts Motorsport, Paul Bonas and Craig Cameron will also contest the event together in their familiar Subaru Impreza.
Spectators will be well catered for this weekend and have plenty of opportunities to catch the action both on and off the stages. The Royal Welsh Showground will house all pre-event checks and documentation from 13:00 – 19:00 on Friday 12th. It will also play host to the ceremonial start (08:30), finish (16:00) and mid-event service (12:00) halt during the day on Saturday 13th.
Fans can head into the woods at two locations on Saturday, with the famous Sweet Lamb stage offering two opportunities to watch the field. This test located just off the A44 near Llangurig, gets underway at 10:05 and 14:46, whilst the Cwmysgawen stage runs once at 11:04 and is located off the A483 north of Crossgates.
Follow the event’s social media feeds for all the latest news, action and updates throughout the weekend.
Seeded Entry List
Posted: April 10, 2019 10:35 AM
Entries Received / On Line Entry
Posted: March 5, 2019 6:23 AM
New stages and format in store for 2019 Rallynuts Stages
Posted: February 24, 2019 5:16 PM
Organisers of this year’s Rallynuts Stages have announced a radical new-look to the 13th April event which offers a dynamic route and format for the Midland Manor Motor Club promoted forest stage rally.
Regulations have now been released and online entry is now available, for the 46th running of the popular rally, sponsored by established racewear and accessory firm Rallynuts Motorsport who enter their fourth year as title sponsors.
In a bid to ensure the event remains unique, organisers will utilise the Coed Sarnau complex which has not been used since the 1990s and offers a new challenge for crews. Hafren forest will also be used for the first time in many years on the event, made famous in recent times by Britain's round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB.
The Rallynuts Stages will ensure the best possible road conditions for all crews by offering a substantial 29 miles of single-use forestry with six stages totalling almost 45 miles of top-quality stages. To complement this, crews with smaller engined cars (classes RF1.4, RF2.0, 1400C and 1400S) and Historic Category vehicles (H1 & H2) will be able to run first on the road, followed by the main field.
Offering unrivalled facilities, pre-event documentation and scrutineering as well as the service halt will all be based at the Builth Wells Showground.
The event is proud to be a qualifying round of the Jordan Road Surfacing BTRDA Rally Series for the second year in a row. It will also welcome back the Pirelli Motorsport UK Welsh Rally Championship, West Wales Rally Spares HRCR Stage Masters and the Brian Dennis Motorsport / Jelf Motorsport Welsh Historic Rally Championship. The FMP Rally Challenge will also join the event in 2019 after being a reserve round last year.
Chris Ashley, Clerk of the Course for this year’s event is pleased to be able to offer a dynamic new-look event in 2019.
“The Rallynuts Stages has long been a popular event in the British Rallying calendar,” he says.
“But its very important to keep progressing and moving the rally forward so the team decided to look at other options in 2019 and we believe we have one of the best Rallynuts Stages in store for many years. The stages look great and we will be the first rally to use them this year. With new stages in Coed Sarnau and Hafren, as well as the revised running order, we believe we have catered for everyone this year and I look forward to welcoming competitors to Builth Wells in April”.
Event Website
Posted: February 24, 2019 5:12 PM
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