Max Freeman | Paul Commons Motorsport

Surviving a time penalty scare, Sam Touzel and Max Freeman would continue their strong run of form on the 2026 East Riding Stages Rally; the reigning Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Champions quickly getting to grips with their brand new Ford Fiesta Rally2 to claim a narrow victory.

Historic Category
Overall
Classes
Gallery

Having only debuted in 2022 the East Riding Stages Rally has quickly established itself as one of the top UK closed road rallies, featuring in the British Rally Championship in 2025 and now opening up the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship season for a third time.

Clearly not an organising team to rest on their laurels Beverley & District Motor Club had turned the event into a two day affair for 2026 with the addition of 4 night stages on the Saturday evening acting as a prequel to the usual full day of action on Sunday. And this was clearly a hit with competitors as almost 150 crews would leave the start ramp in anticipation of over 72 miles of competitive stage mileage through the picturesque countryside of East Yorkshire.

Citroen C3 Rally2 duo James Ford and Neil Shanks would find themselves with the illustrious #1 on the door but would have a tough task to end the rally on top spot with 2025 reigning Protyre Asphalt Rally Champions Sam Touzel and Max Freeman seeded just one place further back. And by close of business on Saturday evening there was nothing to separate the crews with Touzel and Freeman holding a slender overnight advantage of just 0.4 seconds!

Overnight / early morning rain had made for tricky driving conditions on Sunday morning and, despite taking the lead with fastest time on SS5 (Seaton), it would be Ford and Shanks who were caught out by the aforementioned traction limiting mud strewn lanes; a trip through a field on Stage 6 (Rise) costing the Citroen pairing almost 10 seconds.

By this point however, Jerseyman Touzel was well into his stride, following up fastest time on Stage 6 by topping the time sheets in Ellerby and Swine to head into the two Westwood spectator stages with an 11.4 second advantage on stage times alone. That wasn’t the complete story though as during the morning loop a 1 minute time penalty had been added to Touzel and Freeman’s total time courtesy of an adjudged short cut on the final stage of Saturday evening.

Controversially the penalty would be removed by the time by the time the cars returned for a second run through Seaton which coincided with Touzel and Freeman registering a time 10 seconds quicker than anyone else, more than making up for 2 casual runs through the short Westwood stage to find themselves sat on a relatively comfortable 15.3 second lead margin with just 3 stages to go.

Ford and Shanks would not go down fighting however both in terms of protesting the removal of the penalty and by setting fastest time on 2 of the final 3 stages to miss out on victory by a mere 4 seconds; their rejected appeal against the stewards decision to remove Touzel’s penalty the final nail in the coffin, condemning the Citroen C3 pairing to the second step of the podium.

The defending National Asphalt Champions had however put in a near faultless drive aboard their brand new M-Sport Rally2 machine, continuing their rich vein of form which also saw the pairing claim the 2025 British Open Championship title. I suspect the pink and black liveried Ford will be tough to beat throughout the 2026 season.

Behind, Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear would put in a strong performance aboard their Skoda Fabia Rally2. More at home on gravel the 2025 BTRDA and Welsh Rally Champions would shine on the asphalt of East Riding; rarely outside the top 4 stage times, the Delta Salvage backed duo would keep the leading 2 honest on their way to a fantastic third overall and second Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Championship registered crew home.

Class Winners

Perhaps the star performance of the weekend however would come from the superb class 3 Jaguar powered Escort G3 of Lee Edwards and Sam Spencer. Not only would the Ford duo fight off stiff class opposition in the form of Huw James & Lewis Sim (Ford Escort MK2) and Chris Richmond Hand / Shaun Richards (Toyota Starlet) but end the event in an incredible 6th position overall. Surely beyond all expectations given the condition of the roads and V6 power through the rear axle!

Somewhat overshadowed by the phenomenal performance of Edwards, James and Richmond Hand still put in great drives to finish well inside the top twenty; a respective 12th and 15th to be precise to round out the ultra competitive class 3 podium positions. Ross Brusby and Sam Collis in their MK2 Escort had held third after the Sunday morning loop of stages but a late charge from Richmond Hand over the drier afternoon loop would see the aforementioned duo demoted to fourth.

Class 6 would be another hotly contested affair which would see Alyn Welsby and Daniel Parsons claim class victory by a mere 5 seconds aboard their Ford Escort MK2. The Renault Clio’s of Alistair and Andrew Hutchinson had been in the mix early on but it would be another MK2 crew in the form of Jake Briggs and Harry Walshaw who would prove their closest challengers. Indeed, following a slow time in stage 8, Welsby and Parsons would find themselves relegated to second but this appeared all the motivation they needed as 3 faster times in a row would see them wrap up the class victory with 23rd position overall.

Class 8 would be lead by George Thomas and Mark Ammonds overnight in their Citroen C2 R2 (yes the very same duo who played a starring role at the peak of the BTRDA 1400 championship some 20 years ago!) with the Opel Adam of Luke Constantine in hot pursuit. However both crews would find themselves condemned to the retirements list by mid morning on Sunday leaving the way clear for Luke’s brother Tom, with Tony Walker alongside, to claim class victory in an identical Adam R2 (45th overall).

Elsewhere James Hall and Laura Marshall would top Class 2 aboard their Subaru Impreza with 19th position overall whilst Northallerton duo, Mark and Andrew Constantine, rounded out a fine day for the family by claiming class 9 honours with an excellent 43rd.

Historic Category

The 2026 East Riding Stages would also open up the new for 2026 Roger Albert Clark Historic Asphalt Rally Championship, an exciting new series delivered by the same legendary team responsible for the current British Historic Rally Championship and the biennial R.A.C Rally.

Hoping to encourage more varied historic machinery out onto the stages, especially the category 1 machines that appear to have disappeared from historic gravel rallying, the opening round of the season had attracted a pleasing number of entries. Indeed, whilst Ford Escort’s would still have a strong presence, particularly at the front, it was great to see a handful of Minis as well an immaculately turned out Sierra Cosworth for Simon Bowen and Craig Simkiss take the start.

As it was Stefan Davies and Michael Gilbey, aboard their Ford Escort MK2, were the crew to beat with stage times consistently well inside the top 30 seeing them beat their seeding by a massive 35 positions to finish the event in a superb 16th position overall, 4th in the unofficial 2WD standings. Will Rowlands and Emyr Hall, in a similar Ford, would lead after stage 1 but could not match the pace of their compatriots throughout the remainder of the event. Nonetheless 21st overall and second in the Historic class represented a great start to the season for the Bala Motor Club duo.

Elsewhere Dave Watkins and Dave Shepherd would wrap up category 2 victory aboard their glorious Ford Escort Mk1 with 80th position overall with the Mini Cooper S of Andrew O’Hanlon & Kevin Hogan second and Avenger of Ian Robertson and Andrew Scott completing the podium. Whilst in category 1 Shane Gamble and Julia Perry would come out on top of the Pre ’68 Mini battle to take victory with 86th position overall.

Concluding Comments

My second visit to the lanes of East Riding proved just as enjoyable as my first 2 years ago and the rally remains top notch from a viewing and ease of access point of view. The addition of the Saturday evening stages (although I wasn’t able to attend) provide an extra dimension which only heightens the appeal of this great event; the level of entries achieved proof if ever it were needed.

Lee Edwards putting his Escort G3 through it’s paces was a sight to behold, matched only by the sound of that glorious V6 engine note. Some talent by the way both in terms of driving and engineering ability as that machine is clearly very well sorted! 6th overall against a huge contingent of modern 4wd machinery, in tricky conditions will possibly go down in folklore.

The new R.A.C Historic Asphalt Championship also had a pleasing start to life and hopefully interest continues to grow throughout it’s maiden season. Fingers crossed Simon Bowen’s once immaculate Sierra Cosworth can make it out on future rounds after the significant front end damage suffered on this event.

Next up for me is Rally North Wales at the end of March (unless I can shoehorn something in before that is) for the 2nd round of the British Historic Rally Championship.

FULL RESULTS

GALLERY

Ollie Mellors and Max Freeman stylishly proved the pace of the Proton Iriz R5 on the North Wales based Cambrian Rally; the pairing fighting off a large contingent of R5 and WRC machines to claim a maiden BTRDA victory.

The BTRDA season opening Cambrian Rally had by no means attracted the largest of entries, but what it did boast was a quality filled top 20. And with this in mind, few would have expected Ollie Mellors and Max Freeman, in the brand new Proton Iriz R5 to head the time sheets as the rally returned to the Llandudno finish; especially given the pairing had never even met prior to the event and many a WRC Ford were seeded in front of them.

The technical nature of the Snowdonia National Park stages more often than not reward local knowledge, skill and bravery however, and, despite the power disadvantage, it was the R5 cars which shone in the glorious North Wales sunshine.

Indeed, it was BRC regular Matt Edwards who leapt into a massive 16 second lead after the first run through Penmachno South, only for his victory challenge to be dramatically cut short when clipping a hidden log in stage 2. Under new regulations however, Edwards and co-driver Darren Garrod were able to re-join the event for the final four stages thus gaining valuable seat time and continuing their utter domination of the stages; claiming stage victories by 6, 12, 8 and 4 seconds respectively! A case of what might have been …

“To finish first, first you have to finish” is well known phrase in rallying, and Mellors was in prime position to take advantage of Edward’s indiscretion, taking a 7 second lead after stage 2 and managing to hold the Focus WRC of Paul Bird and Jack Morton at bay for the remainder of the event to record a mighty impressive 6 second victory, the most significant to date for the new Iriz R5. An even more remarkable feat when you consider the Proton suffered a puncture in the penultimate stage.

Bird may well have fancied his chances against R5 machinery but, following a 2 year ban, will have been more than happy to commence his full time BTRDA return with maximum points; reward for the first championship registered crew home in second place overall.

Meanwhile, current champions Stephen Petch and Michael Wilkinson in the WRC Fiesta, made a strong start to their title defence. After a conservative approach to stage 1 saw them lying 8^th overall, the WD40 sponsored Ford crew upped their speed as the day went on to eventually round out the podium positions, just 30 seconds shy of the eventual winners.

Further back, Dylan Davies and Llion Williams claimed B13 class honours with 8^th position overall in their Subaru Impreza whilst Russ Thompson and Andy Murphy were the first “showroom” class crew home in 10^th aboard their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9.

And, finishing just outside the top 40, Tom Coughtrie and Baz Green claimed the first ever class H4 victory for pre-91 historic machinery in their ex-works Mitsubishi Galant VR4.

SILVER STAR

The battle for 2 wheel drive victory was fought out by a wide variety of machinery and it was Ieuan Rowlands in the freshly built Historic specification Avenger who was quickest out of the blocks. Usually aboard a Volvo engined MK2, the Ffestiniog resident, with Emyr Hall alongside, was using the event to shakedown the BRM engined machine ahead of a full British Historic campaign and held a 13 second Silver Star category lead until a stage 4 puncture dropped them back.

17^th, 14^th and 15^th fastest time in the remaining three tests would however secure the local crew third place and top spot in the historic category. On this evidence they will be at the sharp end of the BHRC battle when the series kicks off on next month’s Rally North Wales!

John Rowlands, in his usual B11 class MK2 Escort, would head a 2WD top ten remarkably covered by just 52 seconds following brother Ieuan’s issues in Alwen, themselves lucky to still be in the event following a huge moment in stage 1 (see Facebook!) And using his local knowledge to full effect was able to pull away from the field over the afternoon stages to register a relatively comfortable Silver Star victory for he and Glenn Latham.

2^nd in the Silver Star category represented a fantastic result for Chris Powell and Jim Lewis in their 1400 Talbot Sunbeam. The Herefordshire based duo putting in an incredible performance to end the event just 24 seconds behind John Rowlands in 17^th position overall and take the 1400 category by over 3.5 minutes!

Elsewhere, James Williams and Ross Whittock claimed the combined B10/R2 honours with 19^th overall in their Vauxhall Adam. BRC regular, William Creighton in his Peugeot 208 had provided stiff early competition and held the class lead before losing 2 minutes in Penmachno North (SS6); thus leaving the door wide open for Williams and Whittock to claim the honour of first front wheel drive crew home.

Owen McMakin and Lee Taylor registered class B12 victory with 24^th position overall in their MK2 Escort after a day long battle with Richard Sykes. Sykes was in fact leading the class by 4 seconds in his Citroen DS3 before ending the day in a stage 6 ditch.

Josh Browne and Jane Edgington would wrap up a 23 second combined H1 & H2 historic class victory with 26^th position overall whilst the second placed MK1 Escort crew of Ernie Graham and Robin Kellard were left to rue the 26 seconds lost on the opening 2 stages of the event.

Zak Hughes and Tom Wood claimed N3 class victory with 33^rd position overall in their Fiesta ST whilst the Vauxhall Nova crew of Perry Gardener and Toby Brick were first home in 1400c with 48^th position overall.

Rounding out the class winners, Sam & Liam Johnson and Matthew Baddeley & Shaun Hughes claimed the respective RF1.4 and RF2.0 classes in what turned out to be a tough event for the small contingent of Rally First crews.

Full Results

Concentrating on the front of the field you could be forgiven for believing UK Forest Rallying to be in good health. However just 4 Rally First cars and not that many more 1400 machines started the Cambrian; the ludicrous MSA running order regulations surely contributing to the decline in numbers. The second running of Llyn Elsi was described as rough by the top runners so you can only imagine how it felt for the smaller runners at the back.

Rally 2WD appears to be the way forward for some rallies but this format is unlikely to suit the BTRDA Championship and Nicky Grist, amongst others, has called for a return to running 2 wheel drive and historic machinery nearer the front. Let’s hope common sense prevails before too long as with just over a week to go before round 2, the Malcolm Wilson Rally, the entry list is not exactly bursting at the seams!

However, this should not deter from was ultimately an excellent Cambrian following the snow and ice enforced cancellation of last years event. The battle at the sharp end was as close as ever and despite long delays early on no stage mileage was lost, for which the organisers deserve massive credit. But whilst the Cambrian has BRC ambitions for 2019, the question that has to asked is how sustainable the current BTRDA entry levels are? especially given last seasons hike in forestry commission charges. Changing the running order may well be the only viable solution …

Paul Commons Motorsport

Tag Archives: Max Freeman

East Riding Stages – February 2026