British Rally Championship - Severn Valley Stages Event Recap
- therookiereporters
- Apr 17
- 4 min read
All you need to know about what happened at the opening round of the British Rally Championship
Last weekend saw the return of the British Rally Championship, with the opening round taking place in central Wales with the Severn Valley Stages Rally. Hosting for the 51st time, the single day gravel event covered 51 stage miles, and provided extensive thrill as usual.
The event was kicked off on Friday night, with a ceremonial start taking place at the Metropole Hotel in Llandrindod Wells, where fans had the opportunity to meet drivers in person before gearing up for the action of the following day.
The sun was shining over the first stage of the day on Saturday, with SS1 Sarnau 1 providing over four miles of gravel and forest terrain for the drivers to contend with. Welshmen Osian Pryce and co-driver James Morgan took an early lead, closely followed by M-Sport’s Garry Pearson and Hannah McKillop, who were only 2.7 seconds behind. Following them came Meirion Evans and Dale Furniss, who completed the top three in their Rally2 Toyota Yaris.
The next stage, Roman Road 1, saw Osian Pryce and James Morgan clinch the stage win once again, maintaining their overall first position. Max McRae and Cameron Fair crept up to second in SS2, taking the place from Merion Evans and Dale Furniss, who finished the stage in third place. This left Osian Pryce and James Morgan leading the rally overall, with Merion Evans and Dale Furniss maintaining second overall.
SS3 saw crews tackle 9.8 miles of road which would later be used to compile parts of the closing stage. Toyota teammate Merion Evans and his co-driver Dale Furniss broke Pryce and Morgan’s winning streak, with the Welsh pair forced to accept second place in the test. The latter pair remained in the overall lead of the rally, but the gap between the Castrol MEM teammates narrowed to just 2.6 seconds. In third place came Max McRae and Cameron Fair in their Skoda Rally2, stealing the overall third place spot from Garry Pearson and Hannah McKillop, who were knocked down to fourth following a fifth place stage finish.
SS4, which proved to be an eventful stage, saw the dry weather continue, and also saw Osian Pryce and James Morgan return to the top step and win the stage. Merion Evans settled for second place, and to complete the top three of the stage Gary Pearson and Hannah McKillop returned to third place despite suffering a spin. This left the overall lead with Pryce and Morgan, followed by Evans and Furniss in second. The Toyota crews enjoyed a comfortable 41.2 second overall lead over third place, which was held by Gary Pearson and Hannah McKillop. A puncture for Max McRae and Cameron Fair dashed their hopes for the stage win, setting them back by over two minutes, and resulting in them coming 17th in the stage, pushing them down to eighth place overall.
As crews returned to the Royal Welsh showground for mid day service, the sunshine gave way to sleet and hail, providing wet ground and tricky, muddy conditions for the next test. Despite this, Pryce and Morgan won yet another stage - SS5 Sarnau 2, with their expert handling of the slippery conditions adding 5 seconds to their overall lead on second place. Max McRae and Cammy Fair took second place in SS5, keeping them in eighth overall, and the third podium spot of the test was filled by Gary Pearson and Hannah McKillop, who remained in third place overall.
SS6 was a repeat of the route for SS2, but proved a different challenge as the rainfall over lunch meant the surface conditions had changed. Max McRae and Cammy Fair snatched the stage win, their first of the season. In second place came Osian Pryce and James Morgan, never far from the top, and the top three was completed by Merion Evans and Dale Furniss. The stage win pushed McRae and Fair up to sixth place overall, but it was Pryce and Morgan who remained in the overall lead. Evans and Furniss remained Best of the Rest overall, with Pearson and McKillop sticking to the final podium position after a fourth place stage finish.
The final stage of the weekend was a gruelling 18 miles long: the infamous Myherin Main stage. Osian Pryce and James Morgan won the stage, and Max McRae and Cammy Fair came in just behind, with a gap of only one second. Merion Evans and Dale Furniss completed the top three of SS7, and in fourth place came Garry Pearson and Hannah McKillop.
This meant that the overall rally win went to 2022 BRC champion Osian Pryce, and co-driver James Morgan, who now lead the championship The pair kickstarted their championship campaign for this year's BRC trophy on only their second outing together, the last taking place 10 years ago.
Second place overall was awarded to teammate Merion Evans and Dale Furniss, who finished 19 seconds overall behind the championship leaders. Behind them, the consistent Garry Pearson and Hannah McKillop shared the podium too.
In other classes, Aoife Raftery put in a solid performance in her Ford Fiesta Rally3, winning her class alongside co-driver Kyle McDaid, 5 minutes ahead of their closest class competition, Junzhe Tang and Tsungyu Hsieh. The Junior BRC round was won by Ben McFall and co-driver Richard Crozier on their debut round, who together won six out of the seven stages seen over the event.
The next round of the BRC will commence on the 22nd of May, as the championship turns to Scotland and the first asphalt rally of the year: The Jim Clark Rally. The rally takes place over more than 100 stage miles, and promises even more exciting action with a revised format for 2026.
Article written by Miranda Brown
