Protyre CRC: What happened at Brands Hatch

After an eight-stage rally and 83 entries into the MGJ Engineering Brands Hatch Winter Rally, who came out on top and in their classes.

Michael Igoe and Co-driver Will Atkins wins rally

After just missing out on taking the overall and class victories at both the first and third rounds of the season, the pairing finally took both overall and class victories at Brands Hatch, winning the rally by 19 seconds over second placed and winners of Class C Barry Morris and Tom Hutchings Darrian T90 GTR+. This gave the team a full points scoring weekend and pulling themselves slightly closer to overall and class championship leaders John and Alex Stone. John and Alex managed to finish the rally second in class three quarters of a minute behind class rivals and third overall 26 seconds a drift of the Class C winners. However, the team only just managed to get on the overall podium with John Griffiths and Emma Morrison in the Class A Skoda Fabia Rally 2 being only one second behind after closing a seven second lead heading into the final 4.4-mile stage.

John and Alex Stone extends overall championship lead

Despite finishing third overall, the overall championship leaders extend their championship lead by a further 16 points over Chris Woodhouse and Lucy Wilding with the drivers’ championship at a now 27-point gap between John and Chris heading into the fifth round at Snetterton. Meanwhile the co-driver Overall Championship is a bit closer with a 19-point gap between Alex and Lucy. With Michael Igoe now closing in the gap between him and John Stone slightly he jumps rivals John Griffiths and Nigel Wetton in the overall standings and with the rule of each driver having to drop their worst score, it would mean that the gap between John Stone and Michael Igoe will be a lot closer come seasons end.

Neil Beaumont closes gap to Nigel Wetton in Class B while Stephen Johansen takes class victory

After not scoring in the opening round and just falling short of the Cuckney driver in the second and third rounds of the season, a third place in class finish for Neil compared to Nigel’s 5th in class meant that the gap shrinks to 26 points heading into the Snetterton round. However, it was 5th placed man in the standings Stephen Johansen with co-driver Colin Stephens who took victory followed by Sam Gendy and Samantha Bartlett 24 seconds behind them as the runner up. This allowed Johansen to close his gap to Nigel Wetton in the standings by 10 points.

Barry Morris and Tom Hutchingson make first points haul in Class C

Heading into the rally, Alasdair Stables had a 24-point lead over rival George Clarke who was only a single point ahead of James Garner in third. But after the Darrian GTR of James Garner was unable to continue after stage 1, it put the third-place man further out of championship contention. While George Clarke had a better rally than Garner, he would only manage 12th in class and 56th overall while the championship leader managed to bring it home third in class and eight overall extending his points lead over his rivals. Meanwhile, Barry Morris and co-driver Tom Hutchings took victory and thirty points in class in their first scoring of points this season. The team also took the runners up spot in the overall rally with the Darrian T90 GTR+ finishing ahead of championship leaders of both overall and Class A championships John and Alex Stone.

Sam Cox and Mattie Franklin top Class D

Class D had the largest number of entries in the rally with twenty-seven pairings and a mix Renault’s, Ford’s, Lotus’, Mazda’s, BMW’s, a Peugeot, a Honda and even a Talbot Sunbeam in the class. However, it was the Renault Clio Cup 3 driven by Sam Cox alongside co-driver Mattie Franklin who took the class victory finishing ninth overall and 23 seconds clear of runners up Joseph and Daniel Duffy in their Lotus Elise. The class championship leaders Michael and Ben Jowers finished 49 seconds behind eventual class winners but extend their already comfortable lead in the standings.

Luke and Tom Constantine pip championship leaders in Class E

Despite being in the lower end of the classes, Class E championship leader Chris Woodhouse and co-driver Lucy Wilding are currently second place in the overall championship and looked to remain there. However, Luke and Tom Constantine managed to consistently remain ahead of the pairing throughout the rally to take the class victory and finish 19th overall only 15 seconds clear of Woodhouse and Wilding by the end of the rally. While they remain at the top of the class standings, their overall championship hunt has taken quite a stumble as they lose ground to rivals John and Alex Stone.

Heading into Snetterton, there is still a lot to play for as five rounds remain but after solid performances in class from the class leaders and John and Alex Stone extending their lead in the overall championship, the chasing drivers and co-drivers hunt for their respective titles have become that much harder.