Matthew Hirst will be aiming to make it two wins from two starts when he contests Round 2 of the 2023 Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship, the Rallynuts Stages Rally, on Saturday 15 April.
Co-driven by Declan Dear, Hirst won the event last year in his Pirelli-shod Delta Salvage Ford Fiesta R5 by a very impressive 34 seconds – having been an incredible 24 seconds faster than his nearest championship rival over the opening 10.71-mile Myherin stage!
Having won the recent Get Jerky Rally North Wales, which was the opening round of the 2023 Pirelli Welsh series, Hirst takes a three-point championship lead into the famous forest stages of mid-Wales – chased hard by his rivals who are determined to knock him off the top spot.
With a full season of rallying his Ford Fiesta R5 under his belt, Eddie Lewis will be aiming for victory. The 21-year old, who became British Junior 1000 rally champion in 2018, will be co-driven by Sion Cunniff.
Steve Black – the Pirelli Welsh 2021 class W3 champion who is well-known for his giant-killing results in his 586 Sports-prepared Suzuki Swift – will drive the Pallas Connections-backed Ford Fiesta Rally2 (which he shares with his son, the 2017 Pirelli Welsh champion Callum Black). He’ll be co-driven by Jack Morton.
Russ Thompson will also make his first Pirelli Welsh appearance of the season. The 2019 championship runner-up finished fourth overall on the Rallynuts last year and always goes well in these forests and, together with Stephen Link, will be out to impress in his Dunnow Plant-backed Mitsubishi Evo 9.
Robert Gough is the top driver in the Restruct Welsh Historic W9 class after a magnificent performance on the opening round. The Ludlow driver is also second in the overall Pirelli Welsh points table and, together with co-driver Paul Morris, will be aiming to continue that form this time in his Ford Escort Mk2.
This year’s Rallynuts Stages Rally includes new routes in Myherin forest, as well as stages in Sarnau, Sweet Lamb and Hafren – with 27 stage miles single usage. The event starts and finishes at the Royal Welsh Showground in Llanelwedd, which also hosts the midday service halt.
