Sixth seed Matthew Wilson delivered a convincing British Rally Championship win at the Grampian Forest Rally on Sunday.
The Stonehaven and district motor club-organised event, which this year served as a round for both the British Rally Championship (BRC) and Scottish Rally Championship, took place for the first time since 2019 – with no spectators in attendance.
While the Grampian Forest Rally has served as part of the Scottish Rally Championship since 2016, it was the first time the BRC had visited the north-east for close to three decades.
In storming to victory alongside co-driver Elliot Edmondson in their M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2, Wilson took his first BRC victory since 2005.
Wilson won three of the day’s six stages, with the Grampian Forest Rally held on 44 miles of high-speed gravel routes in the Durris, Fetteresso and Drumtochty forests.
The winner, who was aided by the fact BRC championship leader going into Sunday’s racing, Matt Edwards, pulled out on the fifth of the six stages, told the BRC website: “We are really, really pleased with that result.
“I enjoyed it all to be honest. It’s a shame we didn’t have the fight with Matt (Edwards) in the last two stages, but we just needed to keep up the good rhythm and not make any mistakes.”
“With the pace of the BRC, you certainly have no time to bed yourself into these stages, you’ve really just got to go for it and that’s what we did.
“It’s a great rally and the stages are super up here, but it’s also a level playing field as not many have been here before. I’m really chuffed.”
The Volkswagen Polo GTI crew of Osian Pryce and Noel O’Sullivan finished 20 seconds behind Wilson, while third place went to Rhys Yates and James Morgan in their Ford Fiesta Rally2.
Yates – the new BRC series leader after three rounds of rallying – pipped Keith Cronin to a spot on the rostrum, following a ding-dong battle which went right to the final stage.
The BRC next heads to Filey in Yorkshire at the end of September for the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire.
The winner of the Scottish Rally Championship honours on the day was Garry Pearson, along with co-driver Niall Burns, in their Skoda Fabia. It was a maiden category victory for the pair, with their performance good enough for fifth overall.
Pearson finished with a 40-second advantage over Stephen Petch and Michael Wilkinson’s Ford Fiesta WRC, with Elliot Payne and Patrick Walsh – also in a Fiesta – third.
In the Junior British Rally Championship event, it would be Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan who sealed the win on only their fourth-ever gravel rally after leaders Ruari Bell and Gareth Pary had to withdraw with an electrical issue.
Kelly and Mohan’s consistent showing in their Ford Fiesta Rally 4, saw them standing atop a podium, which also included two other Fiesta Rally 4 crews in David Kelly and Dean O`Sullivan, and Brian Brady and Eamonn Creedon.
In the Academy Trophy, Johnnie Mulholland and Calum Maguire took the spoils in their Fiesta R2T after early leader Fraser Anderson was forced to retire with clutch issues.
