2017 British Rally Championship

The 2017 MSA British Rally Championship was the 58th season of the British Rally Championship. It featuredure eight classes:

• BRC 1 (R5, R4, Super 2000, Regional Rally Car)
• BRC Production Cup (N4)
• BRC 3 (R3)
• BRC 4 (R2)
• National Rally Cup (open class)
• Junior BRC (R2, drivers under 26 years old)
• Cadet Cup (R2, drivers under 25 years old)
• Ladies BRC Trophy

Calendar[]

The 2017 championship was contested over seven rounds ^[1] For the first time, Ypres Rally, a Belgian event, was featured on the calendar.

Seven events were held on tarmac and gravel surfaces:^[2]

Round	Dates	Event	Rally HQ	Surface	Website
1	17-18 March		Jedburgh	Gravel	(website)
2	29–30 April	Pirelli Rally	Carlisle, Cumbria	Gravel	(website)
3	19–20 May	RSAC Scottish Rally	Dumfries	Gravel	(website)
4	23–24 June	Ypres Rally	Ypres	Tarmac	(website)
5	8–9 July	Nicky Grist Stages	Builth Wells	Gravel	(website)
6	18–19 August		Derry	Tarmac	(website)
7	14–16 September	Rally Isle of Man	Douglas, Isle of Man	Tarmac	(website)

Team and Drivers[]

BRC1 Entries

Constructor	Car	Team	Driver	Co Driver	Rounds
Škoda	Škoda Fabia R5	CA1 Sport Ltd	David Bogie	Kevin Rae	1–4
				Torstein Eriksen	All
				Andrew Roughead	2, 4
				Stuart Loudon	5
		Macsport Rally Team		Liam Moynihan	1–4, 6
		Tiger Risk Rally Team		David Moynihan	1–4, 6
Ford	Ford Fiesta R5	Dom Buckley Motorsport	Tom Cave	James Morgan	1
				Paula Swinscoe	2
				Leon Jordan	5
		M-Sport World Rally Team	Keith Cronin	Mikie Galvin	All
				Dai Roberts	1–2
				Patrick Walsh	3–7
		Spencer Sport		Dale Furniss	1–6
		Euan Thorburn Rally Team	Euan Thorburn	Paul Beaton	1, 3
		CA1 Sport Ltd		Ross Whittock	1–5
			Rhys Yates	Andrew Roughead	7
		Swift Group		Darren Garrod	All
		Brettex Site Services	Rhys Yates	Carl Williamson	1–5
				Alex Lee	6
		Autotek Motorsport	Eyvind Brynildsen	Anders Fredriksson	2
		Tiger Risk Rally Team		Niall Burns	2, 4–5
				David Moynihan	5
Citroën	Citroën DS3 R5	DGM Sport		Kirsty Riddick	1–4, 6
Hyundai	Hyundai i20 R5	BRC Racing Team	Tom Cave	James Morgan	2
		Hyundai Motorsport			3
		Dom Buckley Motorsport			4

BRC Production Cup Entries

Constructor	Car	Team	Driver	Co Driver	Rounds
Subaru	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	SW Motorsport		Glyn Thomas	1–3

BRC4 Entries

Constructor	Car	Team	Driver	Co Driver	Rounds
Ford	Ford Fiesta R2T	Atherton Racing	Gee Atherton	Keaton Williams	1, 3, 5, 7
	Ford Fiesta R2	Two 4 Motorsport		Matthew White	1–2, 4–7

Junior BRC Entries

Constructor	Car	Team	Driver	Co Driver	Rounds
Peugeot	Peugeot 208 R2	Mc Connell Motorsport		Dean O'Sullivan	All
		Melvyn Evans Motorsport		Jonathan Jackson	All
		Dean Raftery Rallying		Tom Woodburn	1
		Peugeot UK		Caron Tomlinson	1–4
				Michael Gilbey	5
		DGM Sport		Liam Regan	All
Ford	Ford Fiesta R2T	MH Motorsport		Keith Moriarty	1–3
				Patrik Barth	All
				Aaron Johnston	5
		Spencer Sport		Phil Hall	1
				Dale Bowen	2
				Dai Roberts	3–6
Vauxhall	Vauxhall Adam R2	Vauxhall Motorsport Junior Rally Team		Aaron Johnston	1
		Spencer Sport		Dai Roberts	7
Citroën	Citroën C2 R2	Macsport Rally Team		Damien Duffin	1–2, 6
				Aaron Johnston	3
Opel	Opel Adam R2	Opel Rallye Junior Team	Chris Ingram	Elliot Edmondson	4
		Callum Devine Rallying		Keith Moriarty	4–7

Cadet Cup Entries

Constructor	Car	Team	Driver	Co Driver	Rounds
Ford	Ford Fiesta R2	Armstrong Motorsport		Max Freeman	1–3
		MH Motorsport		Richard Bliss	1–5
				Tom Woodburn	6
				Harry Thomas	1–2, 4–7
				Tom Woodburn	3
				Charley Sayer	1–3
				Steve McPhee	4–5
				Richard Bliss	6–7
		Tom Williams Rallying		Bryan Hull	1–5
				Phil Hall	7
	Ford Fiesta R2T	Haper Adams Motorsport		Max Haines	1–2, 4–7
Vauxhall	Vauxhall Adam Cup	Major Motorsport		Richard Crozier	2–3

Ladies BRC Trophy Entries

Constructor	Car	Team	Driver	Co Driver	Rounds
Ford	Ford Fiesta R2	MH Motorsport		Charley Sayer	1–3
				Steve McPhee	4–5
				Richard Bliss	6–7

Calendar changes[]

On 07 January, the British Rally Championship management team announced via a press release that the 2017 Mid Wales Stages Rally, usually the opening round of the championship and held in March, would not take place. The reason cited was that a deal had been reached with Natural Resources Wales - the agency that runs Welsh government forests - over the fees payable to run a forest rally in Wales however a misunderstanding over the VAT payable meant that it would be unfeasible to run the 2017 event. The Border Counties Rally, based in Jedburgh and also round two of the Scottish Rally Championship was announced as a replacement event and the 2017 series opener.^[3]

Event results[]

Podium places and information on each event.

Round	Rally name	Podium finishers				Statistics
		Rank	Driver	Car	Time	Stages	Length	Starters	Finishers
1	(17-18 March)	1		Škoda Fabia R5	0:53:01.6	9	93.94 km	35	28
		2	Tom Cave	Ford Fiesta R5	0:53:40.2
		3		Ford Fiesta R5	0:54:09.0
2	Pirelli Rally (29-30 April)	1	Fredrik Åhlin	Škoda Fabia R5	1:29:28.0	8	159.61 km	43	30
		2	Osian Pryce	Ford Fiesta R5	1:30:07.4
		3	Martin McCormack	Škoda Fabia R5	1:30:17.5
3	RSAC Scottish Rally (19-20 May)	1	David Bogie	Škoda Fabia R5	1:09:47.1	10	119.58 km	37	27
		2	Osian Pryce	Ford Fiesta R5	1:10:35.6
		3	Martin McCormack	Škoda Fabia R5	1:10:49.0
4	Ypres Rally (23–24 June)	1	Keith Cronin	Ford Fiesta R5	2:25:00.3	20	259.35 km	123	90
		2	Matt Edwards	Ford Fiesta R5	2:26:18.4
		3		Ford Fiesta R5	2:27:30.2
5	Nicky Grist Stages (8-9 July)	1		Škoda Fabia R5	1:45:50.2	20	188.48 km	28	17
		2	Matt Edwards	Ford Fiesta R5	1:46:37.7
		3	Rhys Yates	Ford Fiesta R5	1:47:58.2
6	(18-19 August)	1	Keith Cronin	Ford Fiesta R5	2:06:03.8	14	214.83 km	33	22
		2		Škoda Fabia R5	2:06:59.2
		3		Citroën DS3 R5	2:08:11.8
7	Rally Isle of Man (14-16 September)	1	Keith Cronin	Ford Fiesta R5	1:51:16.0	21	229.82km	23	17
		2	Matt Edwards	Ford Fiesta R5	1:51:38.6
		3		Škoda Fabia R5	1:52:29.2

Drivers championship standings[]

Top 10 positions Pos Driver BCR PIR SCO YPR NGS ULS MAN  Pts  1 Keith Cronin 4 Ret 4 1 Ret 1 1* 129 2 1 1* Ret 6 1 2 3 128 3 Matt Edwards 6 5 Ret 2 2 Ret 2* 94 4 Rhys Yates 5 6 Ret 5 3* Ret 4 70 5 3 2 2 3 Ret* Ret DNP 66 6 Ret 3 3 Ret* 4 4 DNP 57 7 7 8 7 4 5* DNP DNP 39 8 David Bogie Ret* 4 1 Ret DNP DNP DNP 37 9 Ret 9 8 8 Ret* 5 Ret 30 10 14 11 13 7 6 Ret* 6 30 Pos Driver BCR PIR SCO YPR NGS ULS MAN  Pts

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Non-podium finish Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Disqualified (DSQ) Black Excluded (EXC) White Did not start (DNS) Blank Did not participate (DNP) * Joker played

Points are awarded in each class as follows: 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1. Competitors may nominate one event as their 'joker', on which they will score additional points: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Competitors six best scores will count towards their championship total, including the final round. The final round of the championship will be a double-header for points as the rally is split into two point scoring rounds.

References[]