The Voyonic Grampian Forest Rally marks the switch back to gravel for the Probite British Rally Championship and a welcome return to the super-fast and flowing stages in Kincardineshire next weekend [9/10 August].
Last included on the BRC roster in 2022, the popular Scottish event’s addition to the calendar is the fourth round of the season, and the last gravel event for contenders until the season finale’ in Wales in October.
New for 2024, is a shift to a two-day format with stages on Friday evening before the remaining mileage on Saturday. Based just 15 miles west of Aberdeen near the town of Banchory, the Grampian will provide crews with blisteringly fast and flowing loose surface tests in the Durris, Drumtochty and Fetteresso forests in an action-packed blast through the breath-taking landscape.
With only a handful of the BRC front-runners sampling the Kincardineshire forests previously, the event is likely to throw even more unpredictability into the mix, as the BRC1 top-flight, Junior BRC, National Rally Title and Open Rally Title protagonists battle for top honours and maximum championship points to boot.
BRC1
With three rounds complete, it’s 2021 Junior BRC champion and 2023 Junior World Rally champion William Creighton who is in the pound seat.
Creighton and co-driver Liam Regan have enjoyed an impressive BRC form in their debut season in Rally2 machinery, taking three second-place results so far. The M-Sport Ford Rally Team crew are dovetailing a WRC2 campaign and head to Scotland in their Pirelli shod example fresh from a string of super-fast WRC gravel events.
A fifth place in Latvia was Creighton’s best WRC2 result and with Rally Finland a few days before the Grampian, the Irishman will have enjoyed bolstered seat time of late and may well be looking at a maiden BRC win.
A further sign of the BRC’s competitive nature this year is that 2019 European champion Chris Ingram lies second, starting his season off in fine style with a North West Stages win. A shift to a Michelin rubbered Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 at the Grampian may need some getting used to but don’t underestimate the pace of Ingram and Alex Kihurani in the forests. A recent non-championship win on the Nicky Grist Stages is a sign of their intent.
A dismal start to the year for four-time BRC champion Keith Cronin was put well and truly behind him at the Jim Clark Rally with a win in his Fiesta Rally2 and Mikie Galvin alongside. Lying third, the Irishman has a busy year behind the wheel and seat time can only be a good thing heading to Banchory. He is also a former winner of the Grampian, beating Osian Pryce in a ding-dong battle in 2022.
Speaking of Pryce; Osian made a surprise return to the BRC after securing the title in 2022. A win at the Severn Valley Stages shows he’s lost none of his prowess, and the Welshman has been on the pace of the front-runners all season so far, just missing a little luck. This year, he has long-time friend Rhodri Evans in the co-driver’s seat but previous experience here could well come in handy.
Scotsman Garry Pearson is one of the most experienced on the event in the BRC1 top flight having contested the event four times previously. Last year’s series runner-up to Adrien Fourmaux, Pearson and co-driver Daniel Barritt lie fourth in the standings in their M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 and are hoping for a repeat of the Jim Clark podium they secured in May.
Continuing to thump in impressive stage times is Hyundai i20 N Rally2 driver James Williams and despite a non-finish last time out, has been super consistent this season. He and Ross Whittock are surely not far away from a top result. As is Meirion Evans and Jonathan Jackson who take their GR Yaris Rally2 to the Grampian for the first time, another crew to enjoy a strong result on the non-championship Nicky Grist last month.
Max McRae [Fiesta Rally2] returns to the championship in the M-Sport squad, whilst Kyle White [Hyundai i20] hopes to continue his progression in four-wheel drive machinery. JKS Rally Team Northern Ireland teammate Alan Carmichael brings the second i20 in the squad, whilst Neil Roskell [Fiesta Rally2] aims for further gravel development as he heads to the event for the first time.
Jonny Greer will make his first appearance in the championship since 2019 as the five-time Northern Ireland Rally champion takes his Citroen C3 Rally2 onto his third gravel event in the car. The asphalt ace has spent much of the past five years concentrating on sealed surface events at home, with campaigns in Northern Ireland and the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.
Junior British Rally Championship, BRC3 and BRC4
The Junior BRC crews will also have their sights set high in Banchory. Many of the rapid youngsters are also chasing the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup honours, and home-grown hero Robert Proudlock enjoyed victory on gravel in April so is likely to feel well at home this time around.
Proudlock [Peugeot 208 Rally4] also heads the Junior BRC standings but it was Kyle McBride [Peugeot 208 Rally4] who took the top spot last time out after a spectacular battle in the Scottish Borders lanes with newcomer Ryan McHugh [Fiesta Rally4]. McHugh’s BRC pace was instant, and whilst gravel may not be his preferred surface, the Irishman will certainly be a threat to the field on only his second outing away from home.
Welshman Ioan Lloyd [Peugeot 208 Rally4] has been a frontrunner all season but hasn’t quite had the results to match an unlucky BRC campaign so far. If all goes his way, he’ll be right in the mix come Saturday evening. Keelan Grogan [Peugeot 208 Rally4] makes his second appearance of the season and Kalum Graffin [Peugeot 208 Rally4] could make his way up the leaderboard with another strong result after taking the opening round win at the North West Stages.
In BRC4, Michael Fitzgibbon [Peugeot 208 Rally4] aims to pick up where he left off at the Severn Valley Stages and take the glory but will have one eye on the Stellantis Cup crews as they are also contesting the series.
The battle for BRC3 honours will once again come down to a duo of Fiesta Rally3 crews. This time, series leader Steve Waugh goes up against BRC returnee Brendan Cumiskey who has enjoyed an impressive gravel pace in the car of late.
Open Rally Title & National Rally Title
Heading the Open charge is John Rintoul who also leads the championship standings and after an outing in the Citroen C3, reverts to the Fiesta R5 he used on the Severn Valley Stages. Another Fiesta contender, John Morrison could well put himself into contention with a solid score in Banchory.
The National Rally Title welcomes back Ernie Graham in his Mitsubishi Evo X and there is likely to be a showdown between William Mains in his Opel Corsa and Nick Heard in the unique Ginetta G40. As previously announced, five-time British Rally champion Jimmy McRae celebrates his 50th anniversary in the sport, with a BRC entry in a Ford Escort MK1 and will run with the number 50 on the doors.
The Grampian Forest Rally gets underway on Friday [9 August] with a ceremonial start and Rally Zone in Banchory town centre before two stages during the early evening. The remainder of the event is packed into Saturday, with a seven-stage blast deciding the rally before a champagne spray finish back in Banchory.
You can catch up with all the BRC action, broadcast on ITV4, ITV4+1 and ITVX shortly after the event.
CRONIN AND GALVIN ENTER CRUCIAL PHASE IN DUAL CAMPAIGN
Posted: August 6, 2024 9:50 AM
The quest of Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin to win the British Rally Championship and the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship in the same year is on the verge of entering a crucial phase, with a round of each series about to take place within a nine day period. Following a two-and-a-half month break, the BRC reconvenes this weekend with the Voyonic Grampian Rally in Aberdeenshire, while the Ulster Rally, on the following Saturday, is a round of the Tarmac Championship. Cronin and Galvin had a poor start to the British season, with a variety of issues limiting their points haul on the opening two events, but they then won the Jim Clark Rally at the end of May in their M O’Brien Group of Companies/Lyons Motor Group/Shane Casey Electrical Services Ford Fiesta Rally 2, giving themselves "a fighting chance," as Cronin put it, of staying in the 2024 BRC title hunt. The Killarney and District Motor Club crew previously took victory on the Grampian in 2022, the most recent occasion it formed part of the BRC season.
If Cronin is to win the British Championship this year, he will draw level with record holder, Jimmy McRae, on five titles, while it would be Galvin's second triumph, he having previously guided Cronin during their victorious 2017 campaign. Only once have the British and Irish Tarmac crowns been secured by the same driver in one year, the previous occasion it occurred was in 1981, when the double victor was, again, Jimmy McRae.
William Creighton, a member of the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy, currently leads the 2024 BRC Driver standings on 57 points, having finished second overall on each of the three rallies held to date. Manchester's Chris Ingram, winner of the opening round, is second on 43 points, with Cronin third on 36. While there has been an unusually large mid-season gap in the BRC calendar this year, the top three have not been idle. Creighton has been continuing his World Championship WRC2 campaign with rounds in Sardinia, Latvia and Finland, while Ingram and Cronin were out on the Nicky Grist Rally in Wales last month. Ingram, on his first drive in a Toyota GR Yaris, took the laurels on that occasion, ahead of Cronin.
"The aim on the Nicky Grist Rally was to get in some additional gravel running, there's been only one forestry event so far this year in the BRC, and that was back in April, so it was no harm to get back in the zone," said Cronin. "We tried some things on the car that day that worked, and some that didn't work as well, so hopefully the lessons learned will be of help to us this weekend," he added. "The next week will tell a lot about how the year might pan out for us, we might win both championships, or maybe one, or maybe none, we can only wait and see, a little luck as well as everything else will be required. I like the Grampian Rally, we won there a couple of years ago, so hopefully we can repeat that result this time around. After so many quiet weeks, it's not really ideal for us that the two rallies are falling so close, it's a lot of time together away from work and home, but that's just the way it is, they're part of two separate championships and there wouldn't normally be two many crews doing both events. After Ulster there will be a couple of weeks to regroup before Rali Ceredigion, that will be two and a bit days on Welsh tarmac, I'm expecting that to be the hardest BRC round of the year."
The Grampian Rally expands to a two-day format for 2024, with two stages, Hurlie Bog and Finglennie, taking place on Friday evening, before the field returns to Milton of Crathes for the overnight halt. Saturday sees the crews tackle seven further stages - Clatterin Kist, Whitehaugh, Durris, Drumtochty are followed by a repeat of Hurlie Bog and Finglennie, with Scare Hill providing the finale. The total competitive distance will be in the region of 57 miles. There will be two re-groups in Banchory during the course of the day, with the Ceremonial Finish also taking place there after 5pm.
Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin are supported by M Group of Companies, Lyons Motor Group, Shane Casey Electrical Services, Molson Equipment, Pirelli, EARS Motorsport Ireland, Cronin’s Centra (Ballylickey, Union Hall, Leap, Millstreet and Dundrum), Cronin’s HomeValue Hardware, Westlink Service Station and Daybreak Shop, Cremin Coaches, Keohane Seafoods, M-Sport and Wurth Ireland. Their Ford Fiesta Rally 2 is prepared and run by Tom Gahan Motorsport.
Stellantis Cup heads for the Grampian gravel
Posted: August 6, 2024 9:48 AM
The Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup IRE & UK returns to the UK this weekend, heading for the Scottish forests and the Voyonic Grampian Forest Rally [August 9-10] as the second half of the season begins.
Promoted by Race & Rally, the new-for-2024 championship for both Peugeot 208 and Opel Corsa Rally4 machinery allows drivers to compete across eight, top-class events in Ireland and the UK.
Four rounds into the season, the Cup has proved exceptionally competitive with three different drivers (Ioan Lloyd, Robert Proudlock and Kyle McBride) taking victories so far.
As a result the standings could not be closer, as the ever-consistent Keelan Grogan leads the way by just one point over McBride, with Lloyd also within 10 of the leader.
Round five takes the crews to Scotland and up to Aberdeen for a two-day blast on some classic forest stages - two on Friday evening before a further seven on Saturday - totalling 57 miles as the Cup once again links up with the Probite British Rally Championship.
It will be a big challenge for all concerned, and should play into the hands of those who prefer the loose as it's just the second time the competitors have headed for gravel this season.
Scotsman Proudlock is one such driver, and can count on home support - and knowledge - as one of just two of this week's entrants to have driven the Grampian stages before.
“Coming back to the Grampian for the third year on the trot is going to be amazing, the fast nature of the stages have always suited me well,” Proudlock said. “We’ve had two great finishes in the last two years so I’m excited to see what we can do in a quicker car this time round.
“This year though, I feel the challenge is going to be greater. With the hot pace this year in the Stellantis Cup we’re going to have to be on our toes from the word go!
“It’s the first time this year the championship’s visited a Scottish forest, so I’ll be pushing hard from the start in search of a win.”
Lloyd is the only other to have driven on the tracks near Banchory, and showed strong speed on the Severn Valley Stages earlier in the season before spinning his Peugeot.
However the speed of Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy drivers McBride and Grogan makes them guaranteed contenders, with Michael Fitzgibbon also in the mix and looking for a strong finish after his last outing on the gravel of Wales.
An on-event cash pot of €6,000 is available to the first five crews’ home at each event, with the winner collecting €3,000, sliding down to €500 for fourth place. The fifth-placed driver receives one Michelin Motorsport tyre from distributors Protyre Motorsport Ireland.
Plus, the Junior champion at the end of the season will receive registration to the 2025 FIA Junior European Rally Championship, entry fees to six rounds of the Junior ERC and 12 tyres per round contested in the series, worth almost €40,000.
Just 3 weeks removed from the RSAC Scottish Rally the Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship roadshow heads north-east to Milton of Crathes for round 5 of the 2023 season, the Voyonic Grampian Forest Rally. The best the SRC can offer will square off with the top drivers in the UK as they welcome the Probite British Rally Championship contenders to the Scottish forests.
Championship leader Euan Thorburn tops the SRC seeding, partnered once again by Keir Beaton, and it’s lining up to be a big weekend for the Polo pilot. A maximum score on this round would guarantee him another Scottish title, but if he slips up there are plenty of drivers who can still snatch the championship win.
Finlay Retson & Paul Beaton line up 2nd in the 2nd Volkswagen Polo. They narrowly missed out on 2nd at the Scottish, losing out to Euan & Keir by just 1 second. They will be looking for revenge on Finlay’s home event and Paul will hoping to maintain his co-driver’s points lead, lying 9 points clear of brother Keir after 4 rounds.
Jock Armstrong & Owen Paterson are the 3rd SRC seed, looking to bounce back after a disappointing 1st stage retirement in their home forests last time out.
The Huntly/Elgin team of John Wink & Neil Shanks and Scott Beattie & Welsh co-driver Peredur Davies entertained everyone at the Scottish with a cracking battle for 4th. Scott & Peredur eventually coming out on top. Both will be looking for more of the same this weekend on Scott’s home event.
Mark McCulloch & Michael Hendry continue their development of their unique Evo powered Proton. They head up a string of rapid Pro 4 cars of Stephen Petch & Michael Wilkinson (Fiesta Rally2), local stars Bruce McCombie & Michael Coutts (Fiesta R5), Hugh Brunton & Terry Mallin (Skoda Fabia) and Ian Forgan & Chris Lees (Fiesta Rally2).
Having missed the Scottish, Willie Paterson returns in the Asset Alliance Skoda, with Tom Hynd in the hotseat as usual. They’ll be chased down by another local man, Chris Collie. Chris another looking to bounce back from a Scottish retirement in the Fiesta R5 with regular navigator Ricky Finlayson alongside.
Scott Peacock & Craig Wallace top the Evo entries, they’ll be rekindling their private Mitsubishi battle with top Albyn Garage Challengers seed Johnnie Mackay. Johnnie played 2nd fiddle to Scott & Craig at the Scottish and is joined by Michael Cruickshank for his home event.
Greg McKnight & Harry Marchbank top the G&M Mechanical Services 2wd seeding, the big Escort will be looking to upset the BRC Juniors in their legions of Rally 4 208s, including Scottish 2wd and Challengers winners Robert Proudlock & Steven Brown.
Paddy Munro & Andrew Stevenson head the field chasing the yellow MK2. They’re followed by G&M teammates Craig Rutherford & Ashleigh Will. Craig & Ashleigh making their 1st start of the year in another Peugeot 208 after damaging their Escort at the last round.
Former 2wd champions Dougal Brown & Lewis Rochford return to the championship for the 1st time since the Speyside, still rebuilding their pace after a long layoff from rallying. They’re followed by fellow Mk2 crews Ross Jarrett & Dave Robson, Gordon Morrison & Ian Parker and Fraser Smith & Nikki Addison.
Gordon Murray & Peter Carstairs start the Grampian looking for a 5th Haddo Energy Super Seniors win in a row. Walter Henderson & Jim Kinloch and Ernie & Patricia Lee will be doing their best to stop that happening.
Ernie & Patricia are also part of the ever-growing Historic contingent, with 5 historic specification cars in attendance. They’re headed by the rapid Donald Peacock & Mairi Riddick’s Mk2. Keith Robathan returns in his Firenza with Andrew Brown alongside for this round. Robin Shuttleworth & Malcolm Smithson are back in their MK1 Escort and David McLeod & Eamonn Boyle continue to get to grips with their new Avenger.
4 crews will contest the Groundwater Lift Trucks Subaru Cup. Rob Cotton & Ethan Kidd make the long trip North to take on Moates Offshore Juniors sponsor Mike Moates & Gary McDonald who always go well in these forests. Kevin Jeffray & Iain Macleod and Mike Grant & Graham Kelman will look to make it a 4-way battle.
Justin Gunning & Michael Moates top the Moates Offshore Juniors entry, the Clio crew looking to finally kickstart their year after a very difficult 2024 season. Points leader Meghan O’Kane needs a good run to strengthen that lead, her closest rival Christopher Smith not in attendance for this round. MG3 pilot Thomas Milne makes his 2nd start, competing on his home event as part of his J1000 MG3 Prize Drive.
Meghan also tops the points in the Lady drivers’ contest. The R2 Fiesta pilot squaring off once again with her long-time rival Aileen Forrest. Aileen is out as always in her lovely Mitsubishi and is rejoined by the experienced Paul Gribben who guided her to a Ladies win on the Jim Clark Reivers.
2 stages kick off the event on the Friday evening with a further 7 on the Saturday. As always keep an eye on the Scottish Rally Championship Facebook Page and Youtube channel for live coverage and updates throughout the day.
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