After a seven-week break, the Fuchs Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship blasts back into action this weekend as the series returns to Wales for the Plains Rally [20 May].
The third round of the UK’s top Historic Rally series will see competitors face a mouth-watering list of world-class stages which have hosted World Rally Championship protagonists over the years, from the event’s Bala base in the Snowdonia National Park.
The opening two rounds of 2023 have seen a titanic tussle at the top of the time sheets for honours in the early part of the season, but there has been one crew that has dominated the points standing since competitors left the first round Yorkshire.
It’s been a clean sweep of maximum scores for Roger Chilman and Patrick Walsh, who took a convincing Rally North Wales win in March, adding to their season-opening Riponian Rally victory.
But competition has been healthy for the Ford Escort MKII crew as an impressive list of title-chasing contenders will once again be aiming to usurp Chilman’s run of form.
Blasting back onto the BHRC scene for the first time in over a decade, Richard Tuthill set some blistering times in his Porsche 911 at Rally North Wales and could well have taken the event win had it not been for a trip into a ditch on the opening stage of the event.
Three-time champion Jason Pritchard was another to return to the fold at Rally North Wales, taking third on his first Historic outing in some time. The Ford Escort MKII pilot and co-driver Phil Clarke, like many, are getting valuable seat time ahead of the Roger Albert Clark Rally in November.
