Three drivers, one rally: the Cambrian decides the British title
Max McRae leads on 103 points from Meirion Evans on 96 and Osian Pryce on 83. A win for any of them on Saturday 24 October would settle it.
Three drivers can win the British Rally Championship at the Lewis & Hunter Cambrian Rally on Saturday 24 October, and a win for any of them would settle it. Max McRae (Scotland) leads on 103 points from Meirion Evans (Wales) on 96 and Osian Pryce (Wales) on 83, with the sixth and last round starting and finishing on Llandudno Promenade.
The essentials
- DateSaturday 24 October 2026
- LocationLlandudno, Conwy, North Wales; rally HQ at Venue Cymru
- OrganiserNorth Wales Car Club, 71st running
- ChampionshipRound 6 of 6 of the Motorsport UK British Rally Championship, scored at 1.5 times
- StagesNine, 48.40 miles competitive, 188.96 miles in all
- SurfaceGravel (Brenig includes tarmac sections)
- Longest spectator stageClocaenog, SS4 and SS7, 7.04 miles
The gaps behind the table
On paper, McRae is seven points clear of Evans and 20 clear of Pryce. The real margins are different, because only each driver’s best five scores from six rounds count. A Cambrian result worth more than 12 points replaces McRae’s 12 from the Severn Valley Stages, and one worth more than 15 replaces one of Evans’s two 15s. Pryce, who scored nothing when he retired on the second day of Rali Ceredigion, keeps everything he scores. Counted that way, Pryce’s deficit shrinks to eight points, while Evans’s grows to ten.
A Cambrian win, worth 1.5 times the usual 25. Second place brings 27, so first and second are 10.5 points apart
The final round is worth more than any other. Points at the Cambrian are multiplied by 1.5, so a win brings 37.5 instead of 25, second place 27 and third 22.5, with nothing extra for stage wins. The difference between first and second alone, 10.5 points, is more than the eight that separate McRae and Pryce once the dropped scores are counted.
Pryce also holds a card the other two have already played. The Joker, nominated for a single round, adds five points for a win down to one for fifth, and the multiplier does not touch it. McRae used his on the first day at Ceredigion and Evans on the second. Pryce has not played his.
A win by McRae, Evans or Pryce makes that driver champion. Second place is enough for McRae unless Evans or Pryce wins. Without a win, Evans and Pryce would need at least third and a weaker result for McRae.
How the season shaped the three
| Severn Valley | Jim Clark | Grampian | Ceredigion day 1 | Ceredigion day 2 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max McRaeŠkoda Fabia RS Rally2 | 4th12 | 1st25 | 2nd18 | 1st25 + 5 Joker | 2nd18 | 103 |
| Meirion EvansToyota GR Yaris Rally2 | 2nd18 | 2nd18 | 3rd15 | 3rd15 | 1st25 + 5 Joker | 96 |
| Osian PryceToyota GR Yaris Rally2 | 1st25 | 3rd15 | 1st25 | 2nd18 | Ret0 | 83 |
Dashed: the score a better Cambrian result would replace (for Evans, one of the two 15s).
McRae/Cameron Fair (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) won the Jim Clark Rally and the first of Rali Ceredigion’s two scoring days. They were second at Grampian and on the Ceredigion Sunday. At the Severn Valley Stages a puncture and wheel change on the fourth test cost them more than two minutes, and they recovered to fourth. At Grampian two punctures on a Friday stage left the car with two inflated tyres, and they finished second, more than 26 seconds behind Pryce.
Evans/Dale Furniss (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) have been on the podium in every round: second at the Severn Valley Stages and the Jim Clark Rally, third at Grampian, 1.3 seconds behind McRae, and third on the first day at Ceredigion. On the Sunday they took their first full-distance BRC win.
Pryce/James Morgan (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) won the Severn Valley Stages by 19 seconds, took third on the Jim Clark Rally and won Grampian despite pop-off valve problems. They led the championship into Ceredigion. They were second on the first day, less than five seconds short of maximum points. On the Sunday they were running fourth overall when a gearbox problem stopped them on the second stage. The zero left Pryce third in the table, 20 points behind McRae.
Their record on the Cambrian
McRae won last year on his first start. A puncture and Romet Jürgenson’s afternoon pace left him 3.5s behind Jürgenson/Siim Oja (Ford Fiesta Rally2) with one stage to go, and he won by 5.6s. It was his first BRC win and made him the fourth McRae to win a BRC round. A title this year would make him the first McRae champion since his father, Alister, in 1995.
Evans has climbed with each Cambrian of the last decade: 19th in 2016, seventh in 2019, sixth in 2024 and third last year, when he took third from his team-mate William Creighton on the final stage. Furniss won the rally in 2023, co-driving Tom Cave.
Pryce finished fourth in 2018 (Mitsubishi Mirage), second in 2020 (Hyundai i20 R5), won in 2021 (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) and was third in 2024 (Ford Fiesta Rally2). He is the 2022 British champion.
Tyres, start order and weather
Gravel tyres must come from List 6 of the National Competition Rules, each car may use no more than 10 tyres over the rally, and two spare wheels may be carried. The championship’s registered suppliers are Pirelli and Michelin. McRae and Evans run Pirelli and Pryce Michelin. McRae, who won last year on MRF tyres, has used Pirelli this season.
Start order follows anticipated performance, and the seeded entry list has McRae as car 1, Pryce car 2 and Evans car 3. At Grampian this season, Jürgenson, running first on the road on the Saturday, was sweeping the gravel for those behind him.
The forecast issued on 20 October, four days before the start, has rain at Llandudno on both days. Friday 23 October brings 11.3mm, with gusts up to 95km/h. Saturday has 9.5mm, a high of 14.1C and gusts up to 82km/h. Hourly figures for the inland forest area near Clocaenog show no rain between about 08:00 and 17:00, and 1.4mm an hour after that.
Five rounds down, one to go: a win for McRae, Evans or Pryce settles it.
British Rally Championship 2026 · round 6 of 6
The rest of the field and the other titles
Elliot Payne/Patrick Walsh (Ford Fiesta Rally2) are seeded fourth and were ninth here last year. Brendan Cumiskey/Martin Connolly (Ford Fiesta Rally2) make the trip from Ireland, and Ian Bainbridge (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, with Ross Whittock) makes his second BRC appearance of the season. Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank (Ford Fiesta Rally2) are also entered: the pair won the Cambrian in 2008 in a Ford Focus WRC.
The Junior BRC is also settled in Llandudno, as a winner-takes-all contest between Ben McFall (Ford Fiesta Rally4) on 103 points and Luke Constantine (Opel Corsa Rally4) on 100. McFall is entered with Mark McGeehan and Constantine with Ifan Devine.
Aoife Raftery sealed the BRC3 drivers’ title at Ceredigion. The BRC3 co-drivers’ title is open: Tsungyu Hsieh, entered with Junzhe Tang in a Ford Fiesta Rally3, leads Rhodri Evans by 51 points to 50. In the National Rally Title, Alfie Hammond is already champion. His co-driver Harry Walshaw leads the co-drivers’ table on 72 points from Catrin Price on 50, and Price is entered with Arwel Parry in a Subaru Impreza.
A reworked route: Gwydyr back, Clocaenog reversed
McRae won here last year, but the route he faces on Saturday has been reworked. Stages in the Gwydyr forest complex that have not been used since 2019 return, organisers say, and SS2 there is a former Wales Rally GB Power Stage with a fast approach into sweeping bends. Hiraethog, run twice on two different routes, takes the place of sections the organisers describe as problematic in 2025. Brenig, now 3.95 miles instead of 4.84, uses different roads and configurations.
Clocaenog has been shortened and turned around. It runs 7.04 miles instead of 11.88, in the opposite direction, with a chicane just before the jump. The final instructions add a virtual chicane on both passes, SS4 and SS7, where crews must slow to 40mph: a first offence costs 30 seconds, a second one minute.
All of it comes in one day. Crafnant opens the rally as SS1 and closes it as SS9, both closed to spectators. Five stages run before service at Ruthin Livestock Market and four after it: Gwydyr (SS2, 5.65 miles), Brenig (SS3 and SS6), Clocaenog (SS4 and SS7) and Hiraethog (SS5, 6.65 miles, and SS8, 6.80 miles). That makes nine stages and 48.40 competitive miles, against seven and 50.69 last year, when the opener, Elsi, was cancelled after a crash.
In their own words
Championship-wise it’s pretty straightforward. Whoever wins the Cambrian will become British Rally Champion, and I’m determined and focused on doing the best job possible.Meirion Evans, Castrol MEM Rally Team
We’ve had a strong season so far. We’ve been on the podium on every round – maybe a bit too consistent and not fast enough at times, but our pace has put us in with a chance of the title and I’m quite happy about that.Meirion Evans, on his season
Some of this year’s stages haven’t been used for a while, and the route suggests that there will be plenty to get our teeth stuck into.Osian Pryce, Castrol MEM Rally Team, 2022 British champion
With some typical Welsh winter weather on the cards, I think our Toyota and Michelin tyre combination will work well. It’s a strong package, that’s for sure.Osian Pryce
We’ve put ourselves in the best position we could ask for going into the last round. Everything we’ve done this season comes down to Saturday, and I’d much rather be going into it leading than chasing. The car’s been strong on gravel all year and I know what it takes to do well on the stages at this rally.Max McRae, championship leader, 6 October
We feel we have managed to come up with a refreshed route which will present competitors with some challenges they haven’t faced for a while. It’s good to be back on some of the iconic stages in the Gwydir forest complex, and with teamwork between Natural Resources Wales, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, and ourselves we have been able to secure some different roads and configurations in Brenig and Hiraethog as well.Wenna Roberts, Clerk of the Course