Pirelli was once more well-represented near the top of the British Rally Championship order on a challenging Nicky Grist Stages, the only truly mixed-surface event in the series.
The opening day of the rally took place on gravel tracks in the Welsh forests, including stages that have featured on Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship, such as Crychan and Halfway. The second day’s action unfolded on the challenging Tarmac roads of the Epynt military ranges.
For the drivers, the challenge was to adapt between two very different ways of driving, while the teams were also put to the test with just two-and-a-half hours on Saturday evening to dramatically alter the set-up of the cars. This included a change of tyres, and for the Pirelli runners, a switch from the Scorpion K range of gravel tyres to the P Zero RK asphalt tyres.
The weekend’s weather conditions demanded good grip from both types of tyre, with heavy rain on the opening morning turning gravel to mud, and intermittent showers on Sunday making grip levels hard to predict on the Tarmac. The versatility of the Pirelli products however means they always offer strong performance even if they are not the optimal choice for the prevailing conditions..
David Bogie sat second in his Skoda Fabia R5 early on, and although car problems then dropped him back, he was able to fight back to finish fourth. Pirelli had three drivers in the top six, with Ford Fiesta R5 driver Josh Moffett pipping Citroen DS3 R5 driver Jonny Greer to fifth. Moffett was frequently among the fastest drivers on gravel, while Greer proved himself to be a quick adapter to the asphalt with the best time on Sunday’s second stage.
Fredrik Ahlin’s hopes of taking a second win of the season were ended when he went off the road on the opening day, but the CA1 Sport team was able to repair his Ford Fiesta R5 so that he could restart on Sunday and show strong pace on his less favoured surface.
Tony Simpson used Pirelli tyres to win the BRC4 class in his two-wheel drive Ford Fiesta, while there was more to celebrate on Saturday when Mitsubishi driver Luke Francis took wins in both the Pirelli MSA Welsh Forest Rally Championship and the BTRDA Rally Series over the gravel section of the rally.
Matthew Corby, Pirelli Motorsport Operations Manager, said: “This event was a great challenge for all involved with a mix of gravel and asphalt. Our drivers were able to be quick on both surfaces so it’s unfortunate that incidents kept a couple of them off the podium, but we still had three top six finishes.”
The end of the first day marked the end of gravel rallying on the revived British Rally Championship for 2016, with only two all-asphalt events remaining. The Ulster Rally in Northern Ireland is the penultimate round on August 19-20.
