The revival season of the British Rally Championship has concluded with Pirelli well-represented in the final championship standings.
Long respected as one of the best rally series in the world, the BRC was relaunched for 2016 following a year’s absence, based around the increasingly-popular R5 category of cars with a diverse calendar of classic and challenging events around the country.
The differing surfaces and weather conditions faced during the year provide a rigorous test for drivers, teams and the competing tyre manufacturers and their products. During the season Pirelli equipped its drivers with its full range of rally tyres: the Scorpion K for gravel and P Zero RK for asphalt. Both were even used on the same weekend on one mixed-surface round.
The Scorpion K is available in a number of different compounds to suit the conditions, such as the super soft K8 which Fredrik Ahlin used to burst onto the British scene on the season-opening Mid Wales Stages, the Swede battling for victory with world championship ace Elfyn Evans in his own back yard. In low-grip conditions with snow in some sections, Pirelli supplied seven of the top 10 finishers from a 17-car R5 entry.
Ahlin went on to deliver a home victory on round three, the Pirelli Carlisle Rally, which began at the company’s factory in the Cumbrian city and was fought in the fearsome Kielder Forest. The result put Ahlin top of the standings, but although he continued to be a firm podium contender thereafter in his Ford Fiesta – including on less familiar asphalt – a string of misfortune meant he ended the year fourth in the standings.
There have also been great results for other drivers on asphalt. There was sun, rain and snow on the classic Circuit of Ireland in April, but the versatility of the P Zero RK products helped to produce an all-Pirelli podium featuring three different marques with Josh Moffett (Ford), Jonny Greer (Citroen) and David Bogie (Skoda).
Greer and Bogie repeated those results on the next visit to Northern Ireland for the Ulster Rally, held on some very wet roads, and a solid fifth place for Greer on last weekend’s Rally Isle of Man secured him a fine third place in the final standings. Moffett took fifth overall despite missing the double-points final round, while Bogie wound up seventh.
Away from the top class, Pirelli secured the BRC3 title with Chris Wheeler, despite injury ending his season early when a mechanical failure pitched his car into a tree at high speed on the Nicky Grist Stages. He had already done enough to outscore BBC Top Gear presenter Chris Harris, who won the category in Mid Wales in a rear-wheel drive Toyota.
Matthew Corby, Pirelli UK Motorsport Operations Manager, said: “The British Rally Championship lived up to its tough reputation in its comeback year, but drivers using Pirelli tyres achieved some great results against strong opposition and occupied three of the top five championship positions. In particular, a one-two-three on a wild Circuit of Ireland and a home win on the Pirelli Carlisle Rally were fantastic achievements, and demonstrated the quality of our asphalt and gravel products respectively on notoriously challenging events. Congratulations to Jonny Greer on a great top-three finish in the standings. It’s a shame that Fredrik Ahlin suffered so many issues after adapting very well to the varied challenges of British rallying and proving himself as a title contender earlier in the year. We look forward to fighting for the top positions again next year.”
