2025 British & Irish Championships

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Matt Edwards on FB;

C & M Motorsport will once again make a Rally2 Car available for three times British Rally Champion Matt Edwards to contest the 2025 Tarmac Championship; as the Omagh based Rally Car Sales team take on the Hyundai Motorsport Franchise for UK & I.

After a successful debut Championship season for Edwards and the C & M team in 2024 where the Welshman and Co-Driver Dave Moynihan won the famous Circuit of Ireland Rally en-route to 3rd in the series, the focus for the year ahead is to capitalise on experience gained on new territory and make the Hyundai Marque and its Hyundai N Rally2 variant a force to be reckoned with once more.

The team will be one of the first in Europe to take delivery of the eagerly awaited “Step 2’ Upgrades to the car for Round 2 in West Cork, whilst customers will be able to order their Hyundai Motorsport parts from C & M Motorsport going forward.

“Its another exciting project to be part of, particularly given it being a brand I’ve done the least work with in recent times, but that doesn’t seem to have prevented us being on the pace before so its just a case of doing our usual preparations and working hard with the team at NPL and the Hyundai Engineers to dial the car in to my preferences as quickly as we can, which is a part of the challenge I really enjoy,” explained Edwards who has previously rallied 2 generations of Ford Fiesta, a VW, and a Citroen in Ireland.

With the Galway International Rally postponed, Edwards will use this weekends Midland Rally to aquaint himself with the new car, after a busy closed season for the pair organising the new programme including sourcing the budget to contest the series for a second year, and Edwards admits it’s a challenge he and Moynihan spend considerable time on behind the scenes;

“The rally itself is probably the easy bit these days! Dave and myself spend a lot of time communicating with potential and existing partners to make it all happen, and that includes maximising the exposure and return for those involved as we appreciate their commitment to us so it’s the least we can do. We are still looking for further support to cement our budget for the year but have a clearer picture this year of how to get the best returns for our partners”.

“We are really proud to be aligned with Hyundai Motorsport for the coming season,” enthuses Marty Mckenna of C&M Motorsport. “Our business is still really in its infancy, but we have tried really hard to offer the best quality of cars we can from the outset and with the support we have gained by teaming up with Matt and Dave for 2024, the franchise for Hyundai Motorsport Vehicles and Parts for 2025 and another attack at the Tarmac Championship ahead is a really exciting prospect for us all here, as rallying is our passion through and through and its great to be part of the journey with such like minded hard working people”.

Edwards will once again be ‘Vlogging’ his experiences throughout the season to give viewers a frank and honest behind the scenes view of competition at the sharp end which proved popular in 2024.

The Midland Moto Stages takes place this Sunday based in Longford and will cover 93KM over 9 Stages

[Fast Eddie WRC]

What a battle between McErlean and Edwards... nip & tuck all rally with McErlean taking the win on the final stage by just 0.5sec !

A tremendous drive by Edwards showing himself and the updated i20 Rally2 have great speed ahead of the 2025 ITRC.

[Sal yet again]

Tv coverage of the East Ridings was pretty ok with little of the constant background music that has blighted the WRC highlights amongst others.

[Grady]

2025 is shaping up to be an incredible year for the British & Irish Championships! The level of competition and passion here is just amazing. If you're as excited as I am and want to be a part of this journey, Join now.

[Steve Boyd]

Live results from TCS here:
https://btrdarallyresults.co.uk/results/?e=722&simple

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Meirion Evans:

P2 at the end of the Malcolm Wilson Rally for us.

We lead all day and entered the last stage level on time with Garry. We had a really strong run through the last stage in Greystoke but just over a mile from the end we picked up a puncture and lost the win by 1 second !

We didn’t feel that we hit anything to justify a puncture but it’s just one of those things I guess. But it’s still a massively positive day for us on gravel on stages I had never seen before today, which bodes well for the next round of the @brcrally in Carlisle

[Steve Boyd]

which bodes well for the next round of the @brcrally in Carlisle

Hmmm.
I'm sure the seat time will have done Meirion & Garry some good but the pace in the BTRDA championship is quite a way off BRC level so, while they may be good bets for the top 5, I doubt they'll both be on the podium even though one of them might.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Entries flood in to Roger Albert Clark Rally

The entry list for the 2025 Roger Albert Clark rally has broken the 200 mark after entries opened on Friday evening (March 7). The maximum entry for the five-day rally is 180 cars for a route of around 350 stage miles running from November 20-24. The initial draft entry list will be published on Monday, March 24.

In just 48 hours, a total of 205 entries were received for the main five-day event, with a further 22 entries for the MINI Challenge Kielder Rally, which will cover 43 stage miles on Saturday November 22.

Entries poured in from across the UK, Ireland, Europe and around the world, including entries from South Africa, Australia and the USA. Significantly, 28 entries have been taken from overseas crews, with a group of cars from Italy including three of the new Lancia Ypsilon Rally4s, three cars from the Czech Republic and two Ford Escorts from Australia. In all, 48 types of car are represented in the list.

Prospective entrants are required to pay a £1000 deposit to secure a place on the initial entry list, and the great majority of the 205 entrants to date have already paid their deposit.

Rally manager Colin Heppenstall said: “We're overjoyed by the response. We're very pleased that competitors from all over the world want to come and do the Roger Albert Clark Rally.”

Entries for the rally remain open as there will inevitably be some withdrawals in the build up to the event. However, it is expected that the drop-out rate will be less than in previous years.

Importantly, the Open Rally for two-wheel-drive non-historic and four-wheel-drive historic Category 4 cars is very well supported. The quality of the entry matches the quantity with many leading contenders. A number of star names are expected to join the entry list and more details of those will be announced in due course.