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Pirelli Carlisle Rally - 30 Apr - 1 May 16

Posted: May 19, 2016 9:28 AM - 5349 Hits

Round 3 - 2016 British Rally Championship
Round 3 - 2016 MSA British Historic Rally Championship

Price/Brooks take first BHRC victory

Posted: May 19, 2016 7:31 AM

Joe Price and Chris Brooks scored their first historic victory on the Pirelli Carlisle Rally (Saturday 30 April), the third round of the 2016 Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship.

The Ludlow driver moved ahead when the notorious challenge of Kielder claimed championship pacesetters Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke and Nick Elliott/Dave Price. Pritchard slid off on an icy patch in a very slippery opening stage and Elliott moved ahead until he was caught out on stage 3.

Paul Barrett and Max Freeman took an outstanding second place on their first rally together while Matthew Robinson/Sam Collis took third overall and Category K in their Fiat 131. Other category winners were Stanley Orr/Guy Weaver (Ford Escort Mk1), who duly made it three wins from three events, and Bob Bean/Malcolm Smithson (Ford Lotus Cortina).

Four stages in the main block of Kielder made up the historic section of the event and the format and quality of stages drew universal praise from competitors as the historics ran first on the road on single-used stages.

However, snow and rain in the run-up to the event left conditions very slippery for the opening pair of stages and Pritchard, running first on the road, slid off on the first stage, The Shanks. Elliott went 18s up on Price and added a further 11s on stage two, The Forks, to go half a minute clear as crews arrived at service adjacent to Kielder Water.

With an important maximum score in sight and title-rival Pritchard out of the rally, it all looked good for Elliott heading into the second pair of stages. Unfortunately, it went wrong very soon into SS3, Roughside, when his Ford Escort Mk2 went off the road pretty heavily into a stream and out of the rally.

Instead, Price and Brooks moved up to lead the finishers back to Carlisle for Price’s first win at this level.
“I wasn’t on Nick’s pace this morning, but we wanted a podium and so a win is a massive bonus,” said Price who also won the RSR Historic Engineering Category 3.

Barrett and Freeman had a tremendous run in their Pinto-powered Escort Mk2 to finish second overall, despite struggling to find a good pace over the slippery opening leg. Another fine result fell to Robinson/Collis who gave the Fiat one of its best results to date and won the Holton Homes Category K.
“We’ve halved the time gap to the leaders so that was a lot better,” said Robinson after a very encouraging performance.

Next up were Orr and Weaver to maintain their perfect record in the Capital Construction Category 2 in their Escort Mk1.
“I lost about 10 seconds in the last stage when I out-braked myself into a chicane, but otherwise it has been very good,” said Orr. Leading the chase of Orr in Category 2 was the similar car of Simon Tysoe/Paul Morris, who picked up their pace in the second loop to finish sixth among the BHRC contenders. Only 14s down on Tysoe were Warren Philliskirk and Nigel Hutchinson.

After a fire extinguisher drama at scrutineering, Bean/Smithson had a fine rally to win the Vintage Car Radiator Company Category 1 from Paul Mankin/Desmond Bell (Lotus Cortina) and Phil Harris/Graham Wild (Mini Cooper).
“Brilliant; the stages were fabulous,” said Bean, while Mankin had a good run on his first rally of 2016 and Harris bagged yet another class B2 win.

While Barrett again won class D3, his nearest challengers were Rex Ireland/Adrian Scadding (Escort Mk2) who had a tremendous run on only the driver’s second visit to Kielder. Out early with engine issues went Ben Friend and Cliffy Simmons. Guy Anderson/Steven Davey (Talbot Sunbeam Lotus) had a superb run to class D4 victory while one of the drives of the rally came from Chris Skill/Tom Jordan who took class D2 by forging their 1600cc Escort Mk2 into seventh overall among the BHRC runners.

Back in Category 2, Elliot Retallick and Tim Tugwell had a very good day in their Hillman Avenger to win class C2 from Stuart and Linda Cariss (Escort Mk1). Class pacesetters Adam Milner and Roy Jarvis (Escort Mk1) lost 15 minutes on stage one when the gear lever snapped off but then proved a point by setting several top six overall times on Milner’s first visit to Kielder.

Results

Posted: May 19, 2016 7:20 AM

1 Fredrik Ahlin (SWE)/Morten Abrahamsen (NOR) Ford Fiesta R5
2 Matthew Wilson (GBR)/Stuart Loudon (GBR) Ford Fiesta R5 + 27.6
3 Elfyn Evans (GBR)/Craig Parry (GBR) Ford Fiesta R5 +30.4
4 Tom Cave (GBR)/James Morgan (GBR) Ford Fiesta R5 +53.4
5 Martin McCormack (GBR)/David Moynihan(IRL) Skoda Fabia S2000 +1:23.4
6 Jonathan Greer (GBR)/Kirsty Riddick (GBR) Citroen DS3 R5 +1:54.6
7 Desi Henry (IRL)/Liam Moynihan (IRL) Skoda Fabia R5 +3:17.0
8 Neil Simpson(GBR)/Elliott Edmondson (GBR) Skoda Fabia R5 +3:20.7
9 Jamie Anderson (GBR)/Ross Whittock (GBR) Ford Fiesta R5 +3:32.6
10 Max Vatanen (FIN)/Jacques-Julien Renucci (FRA) Ford Fiesta R5 +3:47.2

Leaders After:
SS1 Bogey Beaten by 4 crews
SS2 Elfyn Evans/Craig Parry (Ford Fiesta R5)
SS3-7 Fredrik Ahlin/Morten Abrahamsen (Ford Fiesta R5)

Stage Winners:
SS1 Bogey Beaten
SS2 Elfyn Evans/Craig Parry (Ford Fiesta R5)
SS3 Fredrik Ahlin/Morten Abrahamsen (Ford Fiesta R5)
SS4 Bogey Beaten
SS5 Elfyn Evans/Craig Parry (Ford Fiesta R5)
SS6 Bogey Beaten
SS7 Elfyn Evans/Craig Parry (Ford Fiesta R5)

Rob Ready To Relish Kielder Challenge

Posted: April 29, 2016 10:05 AM

2015 Motorsport Ireland Young Rally Driver of the Year, Rob Duggan, continues his DMACK Junior British Rally Championship assault this weekend on the Pirelli Carlisle Rally, the third round of the 2016 British Rally Championship.

22 year old Duggan, from Killarney Co. Kerry, currently leads the DMACK Junior Championship by a single point after taking maximum points on the Circuit of Ireland Rally a few weeks ago. The Pirelli Carlisle Rally sees the series return to gravel however and it will also be the first time Rob will drive in the infamous Kielder Forest.

Despite heading to a new event, Rob isn't fazed;
"I'm really looking forward to the Pirelli Carlisle Rally, from what I've heard it's a really challenging event. Heading there with a narrow lead in the championship doesn't really change our plan, we know we can leave Carlisle with good points and we can take a lot of confidence from our opening gravel rally of the season in Wales. We have decided to hold off on playing our double points 'joker' on this round. Sindre Furuseth, who is just behind us on points has already played his joker and Gus Greensmith is using his this weekend so I'm going to hold on to mine for a little while yet. I competed on the Moonraker Forestry Rally recently and I'm happy with how my gravel pace is progressing with each event. Myself and my co-driver Ger have been working hard since the Circuit of Ireland on our preparation and we're beginning to see the results of our hard work now.

Open to any driver under the age of 26, the DMACK Junior BRC is a competitive proving ground for crews as they have the chance to tackle some of the best forest stages and Tarmac tests in the British Isles in FIA-homologated R2 cars. DMACK will supply control tyres for the DMACK Junior BRC series, and the number of tyres used per round will be restricted to keep costs to a minimum and to create a level playing field for all competitors in the class. The 2016 DMACK Junior BRC Champion will take a huge step onto the world stage with a subsidised drive in the 2017 Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy on five WRC rounds, with the winner benefiting from testing before every round as part of the package. The winner of the 2017 Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy will themselves receive a funded drive in an R5 car on selected events during the 2018 WRC season. Rob and navigator Ger Conway are key members of Vauxhall Motorsport UK who are running a trio of Vauxhall Adam R2 cars in the series.

Starting right in the heart of the Pirelli factory, the Pirelli Carlisle Rally will see four tests take place out by Kielder Dam on Saturday afternoon in the early evening. Adding to the challenge will be the fact that a remote service will be the only respite the crews will get in between the stages. Sunday sees a final three stages before the finish back in Carlisle. More information on the event can be found by visiting www.msabrc.com

To keep up to date with Rob's exploits through the season, visit www.robduggan.com and www.vauxhallmotorsport.co.uk

Rob is supported by Rentokil Initial, Motorsport Ireland, Sport Ireland and the Team Ireland Foundation.

Kielder next for BHRC contenders

Posted: April 28, 2016 9:10 AM

Two crews stand out at the head of the Mintex MSA British Historic Rally Championship as the championship focus moves north for round three of the season, Saturday's Pirelli Carlisle Rally (30 April).

After the Red Kite Stages in February and Rally North Wales at the start of April, Jason Pritchard and Phil Clarke (Ford Escort Mk2) have a perfect score after winning both of the Welsh events. However, Nick Elliott and Dave Price have run them very close on both events and will head to Kielder even more determined to stop Pritchard taking an early season hat-trick.

There were a lot of similarities between the first two Welsh gravel rallies; Pritchard drove two canny rallies to win as Elliott twice fought to regain time lost after his engine stalled, Paul Barrett and Dai Roberts killed some giants in their Pinto-powered Escort Mk2 and Categories 1 and 2 twice fell to Bob and Dale Gibbons (Ford Cortina Mk2) and Stanley Orr and Guy Weaver (Ford Escort Mk1).

Last year Elliott and Price won this round while Pritchard and Clarke were sidelined by clutch failure. Now, after the opening two rallies of the season, defending champion Pritchard has a slender championship lead of just 10 points, but knows that it could all change very rapidly.

However, this is not just a two-way contest and leading the chase of Pritchard and Elliott are Joe Price and Chris Brooks in their Escort Mk2 from the RSR Historic Engineering Category 3. They lost third place on Rally North Wales with a minor off at the very end of the rally, which cost them two minutes. They don't have much prior experience of the Kielder stages, but Price has bags of natural ability.

Now lying third overall in the points and leading class D3 for the less powerful Escorts Mk2s is the Northern Ireland/Wales combo of Paul Barrett and Dai Roberts. Their pace has been mighty and they were third here a year ago. Chasing Barrett in class D3 will be Ben Friend/Cliffy Simmons.

Others sure to be in the battle for the podium are Rudi Lancaster/George Gwynn and Steve Bennett/Iain Tullie who retired in North Wales with a failed coil. Then, of course, there is the fabulous Fiat 131 of Matthew Robinson/Sam Collis which remains a work in progress but is showing big potential.

In the Capital Construction Category 2 for pre-1975 cars, Orr and Weaver is the pairing to beat and they also head class C3 for the Pinto-powered Escort Mk1s. However, the flying Simon Tysoe/Paul Morris ran them very close last time out and another fine battle is likely. Carlisle-based Phil Jobson and Welsh co-driver Arwel Jenkins are another strong Category 2 crew and have stepped up to BDA power this season.

The driver making all the headlines in class C2 for the 1600cc cars is former motorbike trials rider Adam Milner with Roy Jarvis co-driving in their 1600cc Escort Mk1. Their speed on the opening two Welsh rallies has been remarkable and they set joint second fastest of the historics on the first stage of Rally North Wales. That ended in a light roll and so the car, built by Jarvis, should be ready for the Yorkshire driver to make his Kielder debut. His pace could be one of the talking points of the rally.

Father and son Bob and Dale Gibbons took the Vintage Car Radiator Company Category 1 (pre-1968) on both Welsh events but will not make the trip north in their Ford Cortina Mk2 and so veteran Bob Bean and co-driver Malcolm Smithson (Lotus Cortina) should set the pace in a Category 1 entry that has been badly affected by changes to the running order on rallies following the MSA safety review. Also in Category 1, Phil Harris and Graham Wild will chase yet another class win in their Mini Cooper S.

The rally will be based in Carlisle at H&H Auctions. The first car will start at 8am on Saturday and return to the finish at around 1pm.

Seeded Entry Lists

Posted: April 12, 2016 10:44 AM

Entries Open / Rally Guide

Posted: March 15, 2016 9:53 AM

Rally Guide and On Line Entry available from the competitors page of:

Event Website

Posted: February 6, 2016 4:21 PM

Topics: Pirelli Rally (BRC)  BHRC  British Rally Championship 

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