MGJ Engineering Brands Hatch Winter Stages 18th January 2025
IGOE WINS WINTER WARMER AT BRANDS HATCH
The MGJ Engineering Brands Hatch Winter Stages took place at the famous Kent venue on the 18th of January and formed Round Four of the 2024/25 Protyre Autocare Circuit Rally Championship. A revision to the stage routes after the Rallyscool section was unavailable, along with MSUK’s upping of allowable stage average speeds to 80 mph, saw organising club Chelmsford MC centre the majority of the tests on the Indy circuit and pitlane areas with artificial chicanes kept to a minimum.
The MGJ Engineering Brands Hatch Winter Stages took place at the famous Kent venue on the 18th of January and formed Round Four of the 2024/25 Protyre Autocare Circuit Rally Championship. A revision to the stage routes after the Rallyscool section was unavailable, along with MSUK’s upping of allowable stage average speeds to 80 mph, saw organising club Chelmsford MC centre the majority of the tests on the Indy circuit and pitlane areas with artificial chicanes kept to a minimum.
Top seeds Michael Igoe/Will Atkins went fastest by four seconds from Barry Morris/Tom Hutchings on the opening stage before the rear-wheel-drive Darrian took a second back by winning stage two but the Citroën C3 Rally2 won the remainder of the eight special stages to take the rally victory by nineteen seconds from the chasing T90 GTR+ of runners-up Morris/Hutchings. Father and son pairing John Stone/Alex Stone held third position throughout the day with their Volkswagen Polo R5, completing the event some 45 seconds down on the victorious Igoe/Atkins. The Škoda Fabia Rally2 of second seeds John Griffiths/Emma Morrison finished a solitary second behind the Legend Fires VW after dropping time with a spin at Druids during SS1 before rotating again a few metres into SS2. The Griffiths/Morrison pair still took the Class A award with their four-wheel-drive machine as the top three weren't eligible for class awards. The second two-wheel-drive car home was the rapidly driven Peugeot 306 Maxi of Chris West/Keith Hounslow that took the Class C trophy, the 2.5-litre Kit Car came home fifth after the recovering Griffiths/Morrison Škoda demoted them on the final stage and West/Hounslow were just three seconds away from a place on the overall podium. Stuart Maloney/Steve McNulty were sixth with their Polo R5 another six seconds back and fourth seeds Richard Weatherley/Shaun Layland completed a group of five crews that finished within fifteen seconds of each other in seventh aboard their Citroën C3 Rally2. The smart Vauxhall Chevette HSR of Alasdair Stables/Neil Jones did well to finish third of the two-wheel-drive machinery and finished within the top ten in eighth, whilst the two-litre Class D-winning Renault Clio of Sam Cox/Mattie Franklin also performed admirably to record a ninth-placed finish. The top ten was completed by George Sherman/Neil Colman’s Ford Fiesta Rally2.
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One of the best looking and sounding cars on the event was the Porsche 911 3.0 RS of John Yates/Alex Lee that reached the finish in fifteenth overall, one place and one second away from claiming the third in Class C award. An impressive drive from Luke and Tom Constantine saw them take the 1600cc Class E win with their Opel Adam R2 in eighteenth overall after being seeded at car 65, fifteen seconds clear of the second-placed Peugeot 208 R2 crewed by Chris Woodhouse/Lucy Wilding. The Mk2 Escort of Callum Francis/Roland Francis had been in a close fight with the Constantines for the Class E spoils before their exit on SS7 after clouting some stage furniture. Stephen Johansen/Colin Stephens won Class B for non-homologated 4x4 cars with their Subaru Impreza in 21st overall and the 1400cc MG ZR of Jon Bray/Darren Styles took the smallest capacity Class F spoils in 39th. The Class G ‘Rally Start’ and over 1400cc Road Rally win went to the Renault Clio of Tom Grant/Dick Athow in 47th of the 63 classified finishers.
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Historic circuit racing regulars Michael Cullen and Paddy Shovlin had differing fortunes as Cullen and co-driver Sean Hassett set a top-six stage time on SS2 before losing a lot of time at the final hairpin of SS3 and then smashed two wheels on their Volkswagen Polo R5 at the same place during SS6, which forced the stage to briefly be stopped. The pair continued in the event but took a thirty-minute penalty for a missed control so were classified 59th. Shovlin/John McCay got quicker all day and recorded a finish just outside of the top twenty from a start number of 76 in their Ford Fiesta Rally4, coming home 22nd.
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Full event results: Click here
The next round of the Protyre Autocare Circuit Rally Championship is Anglia Motorsport Club's Snetterton Stage Rally on the 8th of February 2025.
The next round of the Protyre Autocare Circuit Rally Championship is Anglia Motorsport Club's Snetterton Stage Rally on the 8th of February 2025.