Martin McCormack and Barney Mitchell would return to the British Historic Rally Championship in some style; dominating the afternoon stages to claim Rally North Wales National Rally victory aboard the MATS prepared BMW M3 E30.
After a Storm Darragh enforced 1 year hiatus, Rally North Wales would return for 2026, this time with a slightly different route to what we have come to expect in recent years. Gone were Gartheiniog and Dyfi (possibly as a result of the aforementioned storm) and in were two runs through the ultra fast Aberhirnant forest near Bala to complement nicely the usual mileage in Dyfnant.
Round 1 winners George Lepley and Dafydd Evans would again top the historic entry list aboard their Mitsubishi Galant VR-4 but this time would face stiff inter category competition from the BMW M3 of Martin McCormack and Barney Mitchell. Category 3 meanwhile would be bolstered by the return of another rapid Northern Irishman in the form of Paul Barrett and former British Rally Championship front runner Tom Cave in his recently built MK2 Escort.
Bitterly cold conditions with sunny spells and the odd hail shower lay ahead of the crews, with an early morning blast through the nine miles of Aberhinant first up. As it was Lepley and Evans would continue their strong run of form with fastest historic time on the opening test but all did not appear well with the Japanese machine. Indeed, the Galant was clearly struggling with what appeared to be a long brake pedal at stage end and worse was to come in stage 2 as the Riponian Rally victors were forced into retirement with a broken driveshaft.
Very much the surprise package (at least on this side of the Irish sea) on the season opening Riponian Rally, Damien Tourish and Keith Duggan would again star on the opening stages of Rally North Wales. Fastest 2 wheel drive machine through stage 1, followed up by a strong second in Dyfnant North would see the Irish duo head into the final stage of the morning with a slender National Rally lead. A puncture in Dyfnant South would however de-rail their charge before another issue in Aberhirnant 2 brought a premature end to their day. On this form however Tourish and Duggan should be treated as serious championship contenders!
It was therefore McCormack and Mitchell who would hold a 3.3 second National Rally lead by the time the crews reached the mid rally service after a full set of top 3 stage times across the opening loop. A strong morning for Paul Barrett, with Rory McCann alongside for this event, would see the Category 3 leading Ford Escort crew well in the mix for overall victory after setting fastest time in Dyfnant South. Meanwhile Tom Cave and co-driver Keaton Williams were quickly getting to grips with their new machine and would sit just 13.4 seconds off top spot. All to play for on the afternoon loop then!
The afternoon would however belong to the Category 4 BMW of McCormack and Mitchell. Rapid through the second run of Aberhirnant, the County Derry man was untouchable through both Dyfnant stages to claim victory by 23.9 seconds, a fine way to record a first rally finish on gravel for the MATS BMW M3. Hopefully this isn’t the last time we see the jovial Northern Irish duo grace the British Historic Rally Championship in 2026.
With Tourish sidelined, Barrett was the man to beat in Category 3 and despite not being able to keep pace with the German machine ahead was comfortably fastest in category over the afternoon loop to claim a well deserved second overall. Cleary happy with the day’s proceedings there was talk of a Severn Valley Rally entry which we can only hope materialises over the coming days.
Holding third at service, Cave and Williams would hit trouble in stage 5, a slow puncture unfortunately plummeting the Ford Escort duo down the leaderboard. This would however pave the way clear for Nick Elliott and Dave Price to claim the final step of the podium aboard their RSD prepared Fiat 131. Never outside the top 8 stage times, the Gloucestershire duo were rewarded with second in category 3 after a consistent run, with the Italian machine not quite able to challenge the blue oval machines on the ultra fast sections.
5th overall and rounding out the final step of the category 3 podium were Ben Friend and Osian Owen aboard their Allglass Anglia sponsored MK2 Escort. Luck had not been on Friend and Owen’s side recently, therefore third in category was just what the doctor ordered for the crowd pleasing Ford duo.
Whilst Tourish was the man of the opening loop, Ben Smith was most definitely the star of the afternoon as the Category 2 Porsche 911 pilot climbed from 9th to 4th after a stunning afternoon charge. With category victory never in doubt, 5th fastest time in Aberhirnant followed by top 3 times through both afternoon Dyfnant tests saw the Bedfordshire man just miss out on the overall podium! Securing category victory by almost 6 minutes would be the icing on the cake as he and father Steven (co-driver) now top the BHRC points table outright heading into next month’s Severn Valley.
Elsewhere Shaun Bolt and Cliffy Simmons would claim class H6 victory aboard their Ford Escort MK2 with 13th overall. Mark Holmes and Craig Simkiss meanwhile would claim runner up spot in Category two and top spot in class H3 aboard their Ford Escort MK1 whilst Ian Beveridge and David Fox would round out the category 2 podium with 27th position overall aboard their glorious Toyota Corolla TE27
Plenty of historic machinery would also grace the Interclub section of the rally where the Ford Escort MK2 of Bryan Jardine and Declan Campbell would just edge out the Vauxhall Chevette of Ben Jemison and Adam Burkill to claim historic honours with 22nd position overall. Irish duo Nigel Creagh and Seamus Cooke had topped the field after stage 2 but would never emerge from the final stage of the morning loop; thus leaving another MK2 in the hands of experienced duo Rob Dennis and Andy Boswell to round out the historic podium.
Rally North Wales had attracted a strong contingent of modern machinery at the head of the field with the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 of Meirion Evans and Skoda Fabia of Max McRae locking horns for the majority of the event. Evans and co-driver Dale Furniss had the better of the morning and had managed to build a healthy lead by the halfway point but McRae and co-driver Cameron Fair appeared to find another gear over the afternoon loop, reversing a 16 second deficit at service to claim overall rally victory by a mere 2.3 seconds!
Next up for the Historic crews is a return to Wales in just under 2 weeks time for the Severn Valley Stages Rally. Let’s hope there is enough fuel available to get there!!
GALLERY
Paul Commons Motorsport 