Border Counties Rally - (Sat) 14 May 22

Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally returns

Posted: May 12, 2022 8:01 AM

Some of the best gravel rally drivers in the UK will tackle this weekend’s Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally as the Jedburgh based event returns on Saturday 14 May after a two-year hiatus.

Forced to cancel in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic, the revived event welcomes contenders from the MRF Tyres BTRDA Rally Series who will contest the forest rally for the first time since the early 1990’s. They will be joined by the S G Petch ANECCC Rally Championship and Motoscope Northern Historic Championship, bringing a host of competitors to the region from across the UK.

Organisers Hawick and Border Car Club have joined forces with new co-promoters Berwick and District Motor Club with Glasgow based building firm Brick and Steel Construction re-joining as title sponsors, providing classic tests in the renowned and little-used Tweed Valley and Wauchope Forest complexes.

The super-fast and tricky stages will test almost 80 crews to the limit during the day with Malcolm Wilson Rally winner Stephen Petch leading the field away from Jedburgh on Saturday morning. Petch and co-driver Michael Wilkinson will bring the noise too, as their Fiesta Rally2 heads for WRC Portugal, opting to use their World Rally Car for their Border assault.

Fresh from a sensational win at the Rallynuts Stages, Matthew Hirst starts with number two on the doors in his Fiesta R5. Hirst and co-driver Declan Dear were a dominant force in Wales last month and currently head the BTRDA standings but will have no previous experience of the Border Rally stages to draw from this time around.

British Rally Championship protagonist Elliot Payne makes a return to the gravel after a confident start to his BRC campaign in Essex a few weeks ago. With the experienced Patrick Walsh on the notes, Payne could well be a challenger for the top step of the podium in his rapid Fiesta Rally2 but like Hirst, has limited knowledge of the stages used on Saturday.

Ian Bainbridge is seeded at car four and brings his Skoda Fabia to the Border. The two-litre machine should cope admirably with the fast forests and Will Atkins returns to the co-driver’s seat after missing the last round in Wales.

Cornhill-on-Tweed’s Michael Binnie will be aiming to uphold local honours after a blistering start to his Scottish Rally Championship campaign. Heading to Jedburgh with his Mitsubishi Evo and Claire Mole in the co-driver’s seat, Binnie has a rally win and podium to his name already in 2022 and will be aiming to challenge the BTRDA front-runners despite his older specification machinery.

David Henderson and Chris Lees start at car six in their Ford Fiesta R5 whilst Tom Llewellin and 2019 European Rally Champion Ross Whittock bring their Mitsubishi Mirage to the Scottish Border forests for the first time. Perry Gardner and Jack Bowen start at eight in their Fiesta R5, with Russ Thompson/Stephen Link, and Richard Hill/Patrick Cooper rounding out the top ten seeds, both in Mitsubishi Evo IX’s.

Local driver Ian Baumgart from Denholm will contest the rally in his Subaru Impreza and Sinclair Young in the co-driver's seat, whilst event sponsor John McClory will also tackle the event in his Brick and Steel Construction backed Mitsubishi Evo with David Hood on the notes.

There will be plenty of opportunities for fans to catch both the action on the stages and the event celebrations throughout Saturday. Under the gaze of Jedburgh Abbey, the ceremonial rally start in Jedburgh gets underway at 08:00 before crews ahead out into the forests.

Fans will be able to watch the rally from a variety of locations including Blackburn Rig just south of Hyndlee at 08:30 with the second pass at 15:12. The Cardrona test, near Peebles, runs from 11:35 with Craik, west of Hawick taking place at 12:32. The final stage of the event is Riccarton near Saughtree which is scheduled to start at 15:31 before the crews head back to Jedburgh for the famous Scottish Pipe Band welcome ahead of the ceremonial finish and champagne celebrations at Jedburgh Abbey from 16:30.

Limited access is also available to the event’s Service Halt at H&H Auctions in Newtown St Boswells which is visited twice from 10:00 and 13:30.

More Details on Event Website, link below

Seeded Entry List

Posted: May 10, 2022 11:23 AM

Border Counties Rally - (Sat) 14 May 22 - SEEDED ENTRY LIST

Entries Received / On Line Entry / Regulations / Details

Posted: April 26, 2022 8:57 AM

www.rallies.info/webentry/2022/bordercounties/

Border Counties