Lepley lands BHRC Riponian Stages Rally win

15.02.2024 - 04:43

George Lepley took his Mitsubishi Galant VR4 to the first win of the 2024 Fuchs Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship on Sunday [11 February] with a win at the Riponian Stages Rally.

Lepley and co-driver Dale Bowen used their four-wheel-drive machinery to great effect in the treacherous, rain-soaked conditions, to secure the second BHRC win of their career, finishing ahead of Matthew Robinson’s Ford Escort MKII, who took maximum BHRC points in the process.

Adrian Hetherington would round out the top three crews home in his Escort MKII, finally able to lock in a podium result after a run of bad luck during last season’s title campaign.

The Thirsk-based event would once again open the BHRC season, but crews were greeted with significant rainfall during Saturday night in the Yorkshire forests, coupled with the recent melting snow, it had left the stages with large amounts of standing water and thick mud across the three tests.

A new era of the championship would see four, four-wheel drive machines line up to tackle the series, a first in the history of the championship as the new generation of historic machinery begins to gain momentum. Not eligible for the overall title, they would still mix with the more traditional two-wheel drive cars to offer fans and crews a fascinating prospect for the 2024 season.

The Wass Moor stage kicked off the event and there was a brand new name at the head of the leaderboard; Daniel Mennell, going an impressive six seconds faster than anyone else to take an early lead. Sadly the Yorkshireman would fire his Ford Escort MKII off the road on the next test enduring significant time loss.

Normal service was resumed as the rally moved into the Cropton and Gale Rigg stages, with Lepley out front and an interesting battle opening up behind, with Robinson and co-driver Sam Collis jostling with Hetherington and co-driver Ronan O’Neil, the pair separated by just nine seconds.

Just 24 seconds split the top five and the ultra-close competition would be a theme of the event, swapping just a handful of seconds during the opening loop of stages. A returning Ben Friend and Cliff Simmons would also be in the mix in their Escort, fighting it out with last year's BHRC runners-up Nick Elliott and Dave Price in their FIAT 131 Abarth.

The afternoon loop offered a little more in the way of grip in the forests, but the stages were still tricky to master and continued to catch out the unwary throughout the day. However, Lepley would go on to keep his nose clean and secure the overall and Category 4b victory.

“It's been good, but certainly tricky out there,” said Lepley.

“You could do nothing really wrong at any point and still go off the road today but it's great to be back. It's so enjoyable [the car] and nice to see the other four-wheel drives out as well”.

Robinson was happy enough with maximum BHRC points to get his season off to the best possible start. Having won the event in 2022, the Yorkshire pairing knew how to master the conditions and aside from nudging a bale on the final test, kept their nose clean to win Category 3 [Cars registered from 1975 to 1981] and the top BHRC score.

“Actually, it's been a bit of a shabby day” smirked Robinson at the finish.

“It's been tough to put a stage together properly today, although it came together in the middle. But we have tried to drive `Banner style`[in reference to Steve Bannister, Yorkshire rally ace] and short shifting, trying not to do anything too sideways. But that’s not a bad start [to the season] is it?”

Hetherington rounded out the top three and a solid start to his season, whilst Friend took fourth spot and Elliott rounded out the top five, taking the FIA Catgeorty K in the process. Barry McKenna and Andy Hayes led the Irish contingent in sixth place.

In the Category Two [cars registered between 1968 and 1975] fight, it was last year's championship runners-up Jeremy Easson and Mike Reynolds who took the early advantage on the opening stage, but only by one second from reigning champion Josh Carr and co-driver Osian Owen. But the very next test saw Carr move ahead, a place he secured until the end to take the Category victory on home soil in his Ford Escort MKI. Tim Pearcy and Steve Pugh rounded out the top three in their similar machine.

The championship now heads to the Get Jerky Rally North Wales for the second round of the season in March, with classic stages such as Dyfi and Garthieniog set to test series contenders to the limit.

Fuchs Lubricants British Historic Rally Championship – Provisional Points after Round 1 – the Riponian Stages Rally