Osian Pryce and James Morgan came out on top in the exciting climax to the 2026 BRC season.
Words by James Downie, Photography by James Downie and Gary Bray, Videography by Michael Whiteley and Nikolay Nedelchev for Rally Media UK.
The Cambrian was again the final round of the British Rally Championship. For 2026 it retained it’s traditional base in the North Wales coastal town of Llandudno, as well as regular sponsors Lewis and Hunter. The main differences this time were in the route and the weather. Alwen and Elsi were replaced by Crafnant and Gwydyr; mountainous stages above Llanwrst, but familiar territory like Brenig and Clocaenog would make up most of the competitive mileage. Conditions in Snowdonia can be tough at the best of times but late October can bring anything and this years rally would be sandwiched between Austen and Boelo; the first two named storms of the season.
Permutations for the BRC title were complex, but three drivers were in with a chance coming into the final round. Max McRae topped the table, but he would have to drop a score, as would second placed Meirion Evans. Although third in the standings following his retirement on the previous round, 2022 Champion Osian Pryce was actually in a much stronger position than it looked. He wouldn’t have to drop a score, and he hadn’t yet played his Championship joker, and for the Cambrian jokers would multiply any points scored by a coefficient of 1.5.
All of the above made Pryce’s mission simple: win.
Max McRae and Cameron Fair approach the end of Brenig trailing bodywork resulting from a spin that would ultimately cost them the championship.
The BTRDA and Pirelli Welsh Championships were also at this year’s Cambrian. Elliott Payne had already tied up the BTRDA Gold Star title in Yorkshire and wasn’t present, but the outgoing BTRDA Champion Matthew Hirst was also competing in the Welsh Championship, and brought his Skoda Fabia to Llandudno.
Away from Championship concerns, James Williams was making his return to rallying after 17 months. He had been seriously injured in the same accident which claimed the life of Dai Roberts at last year’s Jim Clark, and it had been a long journey to back to physical and psychological wellness. Williams was to be partnered by Ross Whittock in a Rally2 Yaris.
Storm Austen brought heavy rain and strong winds the day and night before the rally and made the recce tough work. Rumours of a cancellation were thankfully unfounded though and the event got underway as planned on the Saturday morning. The skies were still grey and it was still windy as the first card left Llandudno and headed for the forests. The rain had lulled for now but was forecast to return by mid morning and get heavier and heavier as Storm Boelo approached.
SS1 was Crafnant. Not used since pre-covid times, this was a typical Snowdonia forest stage. It was high up and twisty, but much smoother than it used to be. Predicatbly, the leading 3 BRC contenders topped the times, and were separated by just 1.4 seconds over the 3.45 miles. An impressive 4th quickest in spite of his long lay off was Williams in the Rally2 yaris but an even more impressive 5th was 19 year old Charlie Tuthill with Sion Williams alongside, in a considerably less powerful Rally3 Fiesta. The fastest BTRDA runners were Russ Thompson and Steve Link in the blue Proto Fiesta, with Hirst and Declan Dear next and 7th quickest overall.
James Williams recorded a podium finish on his return to rallying with Ross Whittock alongside.
Next up was Gwydyr. It was in the same forest complex, but a longer and tougher stage than Crafnant, with climbs and drops and some deceptive corners, but it was the same pattern at the front. McRae and Cameron Fair was again fastest by a tiny margin from Pryce and James Morgan, with Evans and Dale Furniss slightly further back, but only 6 seconds covered the three of them. Williams was 4th and although well off the pace of the leaders, was already a long way ahead of Hirst who had taken the BTRDA lead and 5th overall on Gwydyr. Luke Constantine and Ifan Devine’s Corsa led the BRC Juniors after an early puncture for Ireland’s Ben McFall and Mark McGeehan.
The rally then moved East to Brenig, which this year would run more or less anti-clockwise around the reservoir. A beautiful scenic stage on a nice day, but this wasn’t to be one of them. The first drops of rain started to fall as the 1400cc runners went into the stage at the front of the field. It was becoming muddy and slippery out there and it was worse by the time the leading BRC crews went through, and the conditions caused the first break in the tight cagey battle. First BRC crew on the road were McRae and Fair who cut a right hander a little too fine and half spun as the front dug in, and time was lost getting the car pointing in the right direction. Max then stormed through the rest of the stage with loose body work trailing from the back of the Fabia and did well to lose only 10 seconds to fastest man Meirion Evans, but it was enough to drop him to 3rd as Pryce took the lead and moved into pole position for the BRC title.
This year there was no 15 mile Clocaenog stage. Instead it was split into two stages - Clocaenog (effectively Clocaenog West) and Hiraethog (effectively Clocaenog East), and the the photographers favourite big jump was off the menu with the stage reversed and a virtual chicane added to slow cars on that section. A number of crews missed the virtual chicane and were penalised 30 seconds, including Matthew Hirst, who dropped from 5th to 8th with that. No such problems for Pryce, who was quickest on both stages to emerge with a healthy lead of 14.9 seconds over McRae. The rain was now coming down hard, and the wind was getting up. The stages were muddy and slippery and very wet with large patches of standing water. Evans fell victim to one of these on Hiraethog and put the Yaris off the road, out of the rally, and out of contention for the 2026 British Rally Championship. It was now Pryce v McRae, and the Welshman held all the cards.
Luke Constantine and Ifan Devine are the new BRC Junior Champions and were 4th in the overall Championship.
James Williams was up to third now. If he could hold on, then a podium finish would do just nicely on his return to the sport. An Irishman with a similar name; James Wilson was now up to 4th in the Fabia, but a long way behind. Another profiting from the misfortunes of others was Icelander Daniel Sigurdarson, who was now up to 8th after a difficult start.
After dinner these three stages were repeated. Conditions had deteriorated even further when the cars went back into Brenig. It was truly grim for the Marshalls and those spectators who hadn’t chosen to leave early. Russ Thompson retired the Proto Fiesta with electrical problems on Brenig 2 and Hirst, recovering from the penalty retook 5th place from Tuthill and now looked set for an easy BTRDA win with Payne absent and Sigurdarson too far back to catch him.
Even with a 30 second penalty, Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear had little trouble on their way to 4th overall, a BTRDA Gold Star win, and another Pirelli Welsh Championship title.
The battle for the BRC Junior Championship was becoming intense too. Recovering from his poor start, McFall had now taken the lead from Constantine, and Riley Chester and Robbie Sandford had dropped back after receiving the same 30 second penalty as Hirst.
With Evans out and the other positions more or less settled, the 2026 Cambrian Rally came down to whether Max McRae could catch Osian Pryce over the remaining 4 stages and snatch the championship. The conditions were vile and it would be a big risk but he had no option but to go for it. He took 3 seconds on Brenig 2 to reduce the gap to 12 and just 0.6 on Clocaenog 2, but then took a big chunk on Hireathog 2. The gap between Pryce and McRae was reduced to 5.9 seconds with just the 3.93 miles of the slightly altered route through Crafnant 2 remaining. With around 1.5 seconds a mile needed, Max knew it would be nigh on impossible without Pryce hitting trouble.
An off in Clocaenog ended Meirion Evans and Dale Furniss’s chances of the BRC title.
The Welshman in the MEM Yaris was through the stage first, arriving at the finish in almost total darkness, the rain hammering down hard and lit up by the headlights at the stop control as a time of 4m35.9s was recorded Any time sub 4m30.0 seconds and McRae would be BRC champion. An anxious and seemingly interminable wait ensued but finally the growl of the approaching Fabia could be heard in the distance, it’s lightbeams becoming ever brighter as suddenly it rocketed through the flying finish and scrubbed off the speed before the stop line, the wipers working furiously…and then another anxious wait until the time was confirmed - 4 minutes 31.2 seconds!!
He was fastest but not by quite enough. Osian Pryce had won the rally, and therefore the 2026 British Rally Championship, by 1.2 seconds.
James Williams claimed an excellent third place on his return ahead of 4th placed Hirst, who took a consolation BTRDA Gold Star win and claimed another Welsh Championship title to end a difficult season on a high. Charlie Tuthill dragged the Rally3 Fiesta home 7th overall but a remarkable 3rd in the BRC on his debut. This kid’s skill and exuberance are a joy to watch out on the stages and with continued backing it won’t be long before he is challenging at the very top of British Rallying.
A sensational performance from young Charlie Tuthill on his BRC debut netted him and Sion Williams 3rd among the BRC runners, a BRC Rally3 win and 7th overall.
The drama hadn’t ended yet though. McFall arrived at the final stage 15 seconds clear of Constantine but in the horrific weather, just about the worst possible fault was about to occur. A fuse went, causing the heated windscreen to fail on the Peugeot, the screen quickly misted up on the stage, and McFall and McGeehan could not see a thing. They dropped more than 20 seconds, which was enough to allow Constantine and Devine through for the category win, and snatch the BRC Junior title. The highs and lows of rallying indeed…
This years BRC may not have had the strength in numbers of recent seasons, but it had still been a classic intense season long battle between three high quality crews and cars at the front that had ebbed and flowed all the way right up to that cliffhanger of a final stage on the final round. The 12 points that McRae had to drop from his 5th place on the Severn Valley, allied to the 42.5 points Pryce had scored by winning the Cambrian where his joker had meant his points score could be multiplied by a coefficient of 1.5 were what had ultimately tipped the Championship in favour of the Welshman.
Pryce is now a two time winner of the BRC and joins a select group of all time elite names in our Premier rally championship. Coming in the same 12 month period in which he has also won the Roger Albert Clark Rally and won his category in the European historic Rally Championship, this underlines Osian Pryce as one of our best and most versatile drivers.
Final Results:
1 Osian Pryce/James Morgan Toyota 49m55.7s (1st BRC)
2 Max McRae/Cameron Fair Skoda +1.2s
3 James Williams/Ross Whittock Toyota +2.06.4
4 Matthew Hirst/Declan Dear Skoda +3.24.4 (1st BTRDA & Welsh Championships)
5 Daniel Sigurdarson/Asta Sigurdardottir Skoda +3.56.8
6 James Wilson/Peter Mulholland Skoda +4.16.7
7 Charlie Tuthill/Sion Williams Ford R3 +4.21.9 (1st BRC Rally3)
8 Brendan Cumiskey/Martin Connolly Ford +4.59.8
9 Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank Ford +5.04.5
10 Daniel O’Brien/Martin Brady Ford +6.02.9
14 Luke Constantine/Ifan Devine Opel +7.00.2 (1st BRC Junior)
British Rally Championship Final Standings:
Champion: Pryce 125.5 points
Runner-up: McRae 117
Third: Evans 96
Fourth: Constantine 40
Fifth: Pearson 39
=Raftery 39
British Rally Championship Juniors Final Standings
1 Constantine 127.5 points
2 McFall 115
3 Mason 75
BTRDA
Payne 148
Hirst 141
Sigurdarson 138
Welsh
Hirst
