Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear will have another chance to clinch the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship title for a third time on this weekend’s penultimate round of the series, the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally (Saturday 28 October).
In a carbon copy of last year, the Delta Salvage/Witham Group Ford Fiesta R5 crew scored maximum points on the first four rounds of their 2023 campaign, only for their Woodpecker Stages jinx to deny them a five out of five clean sweep.
Having contested the Cambrian every year since 2018, Hirst knows the event well and was the top Pirelli Welsh finisher last year – and the Doncaster ace will be hoping to wrap this year’s Welsh title up with a round to spare.
Russ Thompson/Stephen Link have finished second on all three Pirelli Welsh rounds they have contested so far this year and will be aiming for another strong podium finish this time out in their Dunnow Plant Mitsubishi Evo 9.
Martyn Andrews has been a revelation this year and has already secured the Welsh Challenge title. Co-driven by Steve Greenhill, the Welwyn Garden City pilot is also second in the overall standings, after five high scoring finishes in his Opie Oils Subaru Impreza STi N12.
Other 4WD crews to look out for include David Tomlin/Keith Ashley in their Axon Ford Fiesta R5, Richard Ceen/Alun Hayward in their MSL Motorsport-prepared Coedwigaeth Pencelyn-backed Ford Fiesta R5, Colin Griffiths/Marc Morgan in their ex-Mikko Hirvonen/Alister McRae Subaru Impreza STi and Steve Hollis/Tim Currie in their Volkswagen Golf V R32.
Boyd Kershaw/Keegan Rees remain in a strong position in the 2WD category. They have won the class three times and retired twice, meaning that they can count both their final scores in their Flying Kiwi Ford Escort Mk2.
Ricky Crone is 17 points behind Boyd in fifth, after a trio of good results in his two-litre Toyota 3SGE engined MS Textiles Ford Escort Mk2. Co-driven by Ifan Devine, the Montgomery man will certainly be aiming to finish the season on a high.
There is a close battle for the Hockly Motorsport-supported class W2 title, with the top five drivers separated by 12 points.
Dylan Fowler Bishop is just one point ahead of fellow Junior driver Gethin Price at the top of the table, but they are closely followed by Ashley Francis-Adams (co-driven by Tudor Jenkins) in his T2 Fabrication Nissan Micra, Kelvin Evans (co-driven by Ifan Rowlands) in his CWL Hire Nissan Mirca, and Chris Bush (co-driven by Robert Bryn ‘Chicken’ Jones) in his Bushtec Recycling Opel Corsa.
