Ben Smith | Paul Commons Motorsport

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 Kevin 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!!

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

Richard Hill and Ben Smith would emerge from the season opening Riponian Stages Rally as joint British Historic Rally Championship leaders whilst George Lepley and Dafydd Evans would claim a second Riponian National event victory in 3 years aboard their Mitsubishi Galant VR-4.

With Wass still unavailable, the season opening Riponian Stages Rally would once again rely on the more eastern based forests of Cropton and Gale Rigg to deliver the bulk of the mileage with two passes through the short Boltby stage providing a nod to the event’s traditional roots.

Despite significant early interest, more than a few entries dropped away on the run up to the event but nonetheless a healthy entry of 118 crews would leave the start at Thirsk Auction Mart; now in Motorsport UK mandated performance order; with the exception of Mini Challenge crews that is who are still able to run first on the road in a separate group.

But whilst plenty of historic machinery would appear on the start list BHRC runners in the National event were a little on the light side. Indeed, only classes H8 and H6 in category 3 and class H3 in category 2 would feature more than 1 entry! Possibly the result of the aforementioned running order changes and/or 2026 being a non R.A.C Rally year?

All wheel drive historic rallying has yet to take off on the British Isles also, however Jason Lepley Motorsport are trying their very best to bring it to the fore by not only being heavily involved in the running of Mitsubishi Galant VR-4s for George Lepley and fellow East Midlands man Barry Jordan but also turning out a Category 5 Lancer Evo IV for Jason’s younger son James.

And that appeared to be paying dividends as despite 2025 BHRC champion Jordan being unable to make the start, James and George would find themselves locked in an almighty battle for outright National Rally Victory across the morning loop with just 1 second separating the brothers at the halfway point. But unfortunately that would be as far as the battle would go however as James and co-driver Tom Jordan were forced into retirement at the Thirsk service with differential failure.

The 4WD machines were, as you would expect, in a league of their own on the slippery North Yorkshire forest tracks and George Lepley and co-driver Dafydd Evans would find themselves with a 32 second National rally lead with now just 2 stages remaining after delays across the morning lead to the cancellation of Boltby 2. And, with little in the way of opposition for the Group A machine, the Anglo Welsh duo were able to cruise to a 35 second victory with Lepley repeating his success from 2 years ago.

For many years the pinnacle of historic rallying, category 3 was by far the most competitive on the day with over 20 registered crews battling out in the Yorkshire forests. Traditionally the Ford Escort MK2 battleground it was pleasing to see a growing number of Fiat 131’s take the start, with Adrian Hetherington and Jack Mathewson joining Nick Elliot in a 3 pronged Italian marque attack.

The Abarth’s would struggle for pace in the wintry conditions though leaving it to the Blue Oval machines to battle it out for category glory. But whilst several of the usual candidates would feature at the business end of the time sheets it would be Donegal duo, Damien Tourish and Kevin Duggan who would find themselves in the lead after stage 1; a fantastic debut in the Yorkshire forests for the Irish duo, who despite a strong track record in Ireland have done very little rallying on the UK mainland.

Clutch issues would hinder Tourish and Duggan for the remainder of the event however leaving Richard Hill and Patrick Cooper to come to the fore. And, after the two longer morning tests in Cropton and Gale Rigg it would be latter pairing who would find themselves holding a 3 second category lead whilst Matthew Stroud and Simon Jones in a similar BDG powered Ford would emerge as their nearest challengers.

Stroud’s impressive morning run would unfortunately come to an end in Cropton 2 with mechanical issues though, leaving fellow Yorkshireman Paul Thompson, with Josh Davison alongside, to climb from fourth to second after setting a strong pace over the final two stages. Meanwhile Tourish and Duggan just managed to hold off a late charge from Matthew Robinson and Hannah McKillop to claim an impressive 3^rd in category on their BHRC debut.

Hill and Cooper appeared to have found the form of yester year on the 2026 Riponian Stages Rally and despite a sluggish start to the event never looked like being caught over the afternoon loop as the long established pairing went on to claim a well deserved 17 second category victory with 12^th position overall in their Ford Escort RS1800.

Category 2 would feature a handful of delightful Ford Escort MK1’s and the Dansport prepared Porsche 911RS of Ben and Steven Smith and it would be the latter duo who would carry on their strong form from the final day of last November’s R.A.C rally to claim a dominant category victory. Behind, Jeremy Easson and Mike Reynolds would top Class H3 in 33^rd position overall aboard their BDG powered Ford Escort MK1 whilst Terry Cree and Richard Shores would complete the category 2 podium in their stunning BMW 2002 ti with 47^th position overall.

Meanwhile the Interclub historic runners would be categorised into class H1 for the more powerful machinery and class H1a for the smaller engined vehicles and it would be local man Ben Jemison, with Adam Burkill on the notes, who would be first home in class H1 with 23^rd position overall in his Vauxhall Chevette HSR. Richard Spink / Kathryn Grewer (Ford Escort MK2) and Charles Mathewson / Josh Carr (Ford Escort MK1) would complete the interclub historic podium whilst Robin Shuttleworth and Malcolm Smithson would claim class H1a honours with 49^th position overall in their Ford Escort Mexico.

The Riponian Rally was also the opening round of the HRCR Northern Historic Rally Championship with registered cars featuring in both the National Historics and the interclub events. As it was David Brown and Richard Wardle would top the registered runners with 24^th position overall in their Ford Escort MK2 whilst the similar machines of Tony Thompson / John Connor (25^th overall) and Richard Spink / Kathryn Grewer (27^th overall) would round out the podium positions.

The fight for overall rally victory would be contested by the modern machinery in class 1 and it would be Elliot Payne and Patrick Walsh who would claim yet another Riponian victory aboard their Ford Fiesta Rally2. Joe Cunningham and Josh Beer would put in a strong performance aboard the aging Ford Fiesta WRC but would ultimately come up 17 seconds shy despite setting fastest stage time in Cropton 2. Meanwhile Liam Clark and Jack Morton would complete the overall podium in their Ford Fiesta Rally2.

The British Historic Championship runners now move onto Rally North Wales at the end of March for round 2 of the championship with Ben Smith and Richard Hill sharing the championship lead having both claimed category victories. Despite winning the overall National event George Lepley sits 15 points in arrears as a result of insufficient category 4 runners for maximum points to be awarded.

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY