It only feels like yesterday that Matt Edwards became a record-breaking three-time British Rally Champion in a row, but in fact it was around nine-weeks ago when his Volkswagen Polo GTi crossed the finish line of the final stage of the Modern Tyres Ulster Rally to clinch the impressive feat.
Fast forward two months and registrations are now open for the 2022 British Rally Championship and we are speeding rapidly towards the first round of the new-look calendar, the Corbeau Seats Rally Tendring & Clacton at the end of April.
In the 64th year of the series, Britain’s premier rallying championship will feature seven action packed rounds, with a blistering mix of gravel and asphalt events in Wales, England and Scotland. The championship roster will see the introduction of exciting new events in 2022, mixed with BRC classics to test both seasoned champions and series newcomers.
As well as the British Rally Championship title, the popular National Rally Title will also return, offering any vehicle eligible under the current Motorsport UK Technical Regulations and WRC cars (up to 31/10/216), the opportunity to contest the BRC events alongside the BRC1 top flight crews including the opportunity for pre-event recce.
The hotly-contested Junior British Rally Championship is also back in 2022, with young, progressive drivers up to the age of {27 years old} battling for honours and the chance to win a prize drive in a World Rally Championship round in 2023, in a Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing i20 N Rally2
The Academy Trophy is also back, catering for drivers under 25 years old on 1st January 2022 with less than two years BRC experience and using “R2” specification machinery (homologated up to 31.12.2018). The Academy Trophy winner will receive free entries to each round of the 2023 Junior BRC to assist in their progression through the ranks.
For more information on the series or to announce your plans, contact the team at brc@motorsportuk.org
Keep tabs on all the latest BRC developments by visiting www.britishrallychampionship.co.uk or by following us on social media: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter using #BRC.
New look to British Rally Championship calendar for 2022
Britain’s premier rallying series will feature a dynamic mix of classic events and exciting newcomers, taking in some of the best gravel and asphalt rallies in the country, visiting England, Scotland and Wales in the process.
Catering for top-flight Rally2 machinery, Junior British Rally Championship contenders and the popular National Rally Title, the new roster will test both reigning champions and new arrivals in a pulsating calendar, with each event stamping its unique mark on the tour.
The British Championship will get underway on a closed road asphalt event for the first time in over four decades as the Corbeau Seats Rally Tendring & Clacton hosts the BRC curtain-raiser in the south east of England. The ground-breaking event was the first English closed road rally back in 2018 and will see the elite BRC contenders tackle the exhilarating Essex lanes in April.
Staying on a sealed surface for round two, the Beatson’s Building Supplies Jim Clark Rally takes the series into Scotland in May and the highly regarded stages around the Duns rally base. With a long history of hosting the BRC, the Jim Clark Rally provides a lively encounter for the crews with two days of closed road action in the Borders to test even the most experienced of champions.
July sees a trip to the world-famous Welsh forests of the Nicky Grist Stages. Having made a return to the BRC bill in 2021, a scintillating battle played out across the rapid and flowing stages which have witnessed many world championship clashes. Expect fireworks on the first gravel round of the season.
Staying in the forests, the Grampian Forest Rally makes a welcome return to the calendar after receiving high acclaim on its inclusion in 2021. The Banchory based rally, just west of Aberdeen in Scotland, provided BRC contenders with a tough challenge as the high-speed forest tests were largely unknown to the title protagonists. The contest for top honours returns to Kincardineshire in August.
The acclaimed Get Connected Rali Bae Ceredigion heralds a newcomer to the BRC tour as the Aberystwyth based closed-road event provides an exceptional challenge across the bumpy and unforgiving moorland roads in September. First run in 2019, the event will offer a journey into the unknown as the Cambrian Mountains provide an ultimate test of car and crew.
The popular Trackrod Rally Yorkshire plays host to the penultimate round of 2022 after making a highly successful return to the calendar this year following an eight-year break. The super-fast and narrow stages in the Yorkshire forests witnessed a thrilling encounter and its Dalby test in the dark will test contenders to the limit at the end of September.
Offering the perfect curtain call on the 2022 season, the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally retains its October slot and rounds out the British Rally Championship in style. Having the potential to see the champion crowned on the Llandudno seafront, the event takes contenders through world-class forest stages in North Wales.
2022 Motorsport UK British Rally Championship Calendar
Round 1 – Corbeau Seats Rally Tendring & Clacton – Clacton – 23/24 April
Round 2 – Beatson’s Building Supplies Jim Clark Rally – Duns – 27/28 May
Round 3 – Nicky Grist Stages – Builth Wells – 9 July
Round 4 – Grampian Forest Rally – Banchory – 13 August
Round 5 – Get Connected Rali Bae Ceredigion – Aberystwyth – 3/4 September
Round 6 – Trackrod Rally Yorkshire – Filey – 23/24 September
Round 7 – Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally – Llandudno – 29 October
Reserve Round – Oulton Park Stages – Oulton Park – 5 November
