Managing to stay out of trouble as others faltered, Martin McCormack and Barney Mitchell perfectly circumnavigated the longest, toughest, most grueling Roger Albert Clark Rally to date to claim victory by more than 5 minutes; a record equalling fourth title for the rapid Irish driver.
Two years in the making, the 2023 running of the Roger Albert Clark Rally promised to be the best yet with a route covering 5 days, 3 countries and over 350 miles! Not only this but an incredible entry of over 150 crews had been attracted which included the likes of Oliver Solberg, Kris Meeke, Chris Ingram and Osian Pryce in addition to the usual front running historic competitors, thus making the event one of the most eagerly anticipated in many a year!
With such a grueling schedule the event was always likely to be one of attrition and Meeke, Ingram and 2023 BHRC champion Roger Chillman were all official retirements before the end of the Welsh leg! This left Solberg and Pryce to battle it out for top spot as the event moved into South West Scotland on day 3 with the former starting to pull away as he became more familiar with his father’s MK2 Escort.
Pryce had however been managing an oil leak and his victory challenge would unfortunately come to a premature end in Glen Gap as the RallyXtreme MK2 Escort eventually utilised all available lubricant after visibly smoking through most of the morning. A very disappointing end for the 2022 British Rally Champion after such a promising run over the first 2 days.
Solberg meanwhile seemed to go from strength to strength and had built a lead of over 4 minutes by the end of day 3, growing to over 5 and a half minutes by the start of Stage 28 (Harwood 2, the final stage of day 4). But then disaster struck for he and Elliot Edmondson as the Viking Motorsport machine suffered a drive shaft failure putting them out of the rally. And whilst the team had them back in the event under Super Rally rules for day 5, the amount of time required to be made up ultimately saw them end up in a Shepherdshield ditch as they went all in for victory.
Having 3 pervious RAC victories to his name Martin McCormack knows exactly what it takes to end the event on the top step. He and co-driver Barney Mitchell had sat 3rd at the end of day 1 and 2 and had wisely decided on a more cautious approach after a few near misses early on and then an oil issue of their own on day 3. And it turned out that this was exactly the right strategy as the Irish duo maintained a 5 minute margin over the final day to claim a brilliant victory whilst still managing to put on a show with their infamous flamboyant style!.
Like McCormack, Cathan McCourt and Liam Moynihan had also opted for a safety first approach and were rewarded with an excellent 2nd overall for their efforts, a quite unbelievable result given their lack of mileage on UK soil. In fact McCourt had started the final 39 mile Kielder test in 3rd, 30 seconds behind the crowd pleasing Stratos of Perez, but with the intention of having a real go on the monster finale. And the charge certainly paid off as Perez was unfortunately forced into retirement with the Lancia’s engine succumbing to the heat of the battle.
Whilst McCourt set a quick time on “The Big One” no one was able to get anywhere near the time of Jason Pritchard however as the Welshman set fastest time by a monumental 51 seconds, topping off an incredible final day charge for he and Phil Clarke which saw the experienced duo climb into the podium positions. Pre rally the triple British Historic Champions would have been amongst the favourites for victory but after a trying event saw them visit a couple of ditches, suffer multiple punctures and encounter a fuel pressure issue they will have been delighted with 3rd!
The 39 mile final test was always designed to be a sting in the tail and it proved just that for the unfortunate Seb Perez and Gary McElhinney. But their incredible run will be THE lasting memory for many followers of event having peddled the Stratos with such style across some of the UK’s finest stages. We can only hope they come back for more in 2 years time!
Further back Mike Stuart and Sinclair Young put in a fabulous performance to claim category 2 honours with an excellent 5th overall in their MK1 Escort. The Scottish pairing managed to find the perfect pace throughout the event, benefitting from the issues of others along the way to move from 13th at the end of day 3 to 9th by the end of day 4 and then gain another 4 spots over the final day in Kielder.
Northern Irish pairing, Robert Woodside and Dean Beckett aboard their Tuthill prepared Porsche 911, had been leading the category at the end of day 1 but were not able to match the pace of Stuart as the event progressed. However 10th overall, first none Ford and first in class C4 represented an excellent result after 5 long days. Meanwhile just one place further back after a consistent run were Class C3 winners Ben and Steven Smith aboard their RS2000, the first none BD powered Ford home.
It’s always great to see the Category 1 machines on display and victory looked to be going the way of Martin Linden and Rickard Forsell in the Volvo PV 544 only for the Swedes to be forced to Super Rally part way through day 4. This left the way clear for Pete Stimson and Mark Butler to take a well earned victory aboard their Ford Anglia with 81st overall.
Elsewhere Mark and Andrew Constantine would claim category 4A honours in their recently built Nova SR and Aaron McClure would take Category 4B just one place further back in 55th position overall. Meanwhile Neil Weaver put in one of the star performances of the event as he and Jack Morton took the S1600 Vauxhall Corsa to Open Rally victory with 6th position overall, in the process recording a remarkable category victory margin of over 23 minutes!
This had been some event to follow and whilst I had only elected to take in the middle 3 days still managed to clock up a whopping 874 miles! Even the weather behaved itself this time with the trip into new territory (for me) in South West Scotland a personal highlight. Rallying has traditionally been all about endurance and this 350 mile event required it in abundance. So much so that just 4 of the top 20 seeds made it to the finish without Super Rally! If only a more traditional way of navigating the event between Wales and Carlisle could be found; stately home stages and a route through North Yorkshire or Cumbria seemingly the obvious answer but probably out of the question …
But that’s just nitpicking, what an event, bring on 2025!
GALLERY
Paul Commons Motorsport 