2026 Severn Valley Rally Report: Pryce heads MEM 1-2, McCormack takes another BHRC win.
Osian Pryce and Dale Furniss were comfortable victors on home ground.
Words by James Downie, photography by Phil Taylor, videography by Nikolay Nedelchev for Rally Media UK.
It had been almost 6 months since William Creighton clinched the 2025 title on the Cambrian but the 2026 British Rally Championship finally kicked off last Saturday with the Severn Valley Stages Rally in mid-Wales. The reigning Champion will not defend his crown this year, opting instead to try his luck on the next rung of the ladder with a crack at the European Championship, but we should still see him on these shores at the Ceredigion when both Championships collide in September. There will still be plenty of quality for 2026 however, because Creighton’s seat in the MEM Castrol team has been filled by another former BRC Champion in Osian Pryce. Pryce, winner of the Roger Albert Clark Rally last November, started as hot favourite for both the rally and the title, but he was likely to be tested strongly by fellow Welshman and MEM team mate Meirion Evans, and also Max McRae, who’d won the last round of the 2025 BRC season and followed it up by winning the the recent Rally North Wales. Scotsman Garry Pearson had impressed at various times last season and was back for another shot in an M-Sport backed Fiesta. Scott MacBeth and Elliott Payne were also expected to challenge strongly, and Sam Touzel, last year’s Protyre Asphalt Champion was hoping to build up some gravel experience and get amongst the leaders.
The Severn Valley was based in Llandrindrod Wells, and featured 51 miles on 7 Forest Stages in the classic Sarnau and Myherin complexes. As well as being the BRC curtain raiser, the rally was also round 3 of the British Historic Rally Championship and round 2 of the Pirelli Welsh Championship. Marty McCormack and his bellowing BMW M3 was aiming to repeat his win 2 weeks previously on the North Wales. Meirion Evans had taken maximum Welsh Championship points on that very rally, but being registered for the BRC, he was ineligible for Welsh points on the Severn Valley, and second placed Liam Clark had a golden opportunity to take advantage.
Marty McCormack and Barney Mitchell took their second British Historic Championship win in three weekends in the BMW M3.
SS1 was Sarnau - for those familiar with the complex it was actually the Cwymysgawen stage run the opposite direction to usual. At just under 5 miles it contained some sharp climbs, hairpins, steep drops and beautiful views. These stages are well known to Pryce, having grown up not far away and he’d won the Severn Valley last time it was held in 2024. He and co-driver James Morgan were out of the blocks quickly, and were fastest on this opening stage by 2.7 seconds. Pearson and Hannah McKillop were next ahead of Evans and Dale Furniss. Elliot Payne continued his excellent start to 2026 and was 4th fastest. Max McRae and Cameron Fair were surprisingly off the pace and only 5th, 10 seconds behind Pryce. The top 6 was completed by the leading Welsh Championship competitors, Liam Clark and Michael Gilbey.
Irishman Damien Tourish has made a habit of starting rallies quickly so far this season, and he was again the fastest British Historic Championship competitor through SS1 - 2 seconds quicker than Ben Friend, Mccormack, and championship leader Ben Smith’s Porsche.
Garry Pearson and Hannah McKillop overcome the odd mishap to begin the BRC season with a podium.
North West to the Myherin complex now for the Roman Road stage. A short 3 mile section in the North of the complex near the A44. Pryce was again quickest but by a narrow margin from McRae, who had found some rhythm in the Fabia, Evans and Pearson. Irish driver James Wilson, who has recently returned to the sport after a break of several years got into the top 5 times here in his Fabia, whilst Scott MacBeth was 6th fastest in the Polo and moved up into 6th overall ahead of Clark. McCormack was quickest Historic from Yorkshireman Paul Thompson’s Escort and took the lead from Tourish as the cars headed deeper into the Forest for the Myherin stage.
Evans snatched 2.6 seconds back from his team mate on SS3 to keep Pryce in check, with McRae also quick. These three were almost 30 seconds faster than everyone else through the 10 mile stage as Pearson lost time with a spin at a right hander which left him facing the wrong way down the track and in a ditch on the outside. He had to drive out then turn the car and stalled it. Although it only cost him one place, realistically any chance of catching the Toyotas was now gone.
Ireland’s Aiofe Raftery was into the top 10 overall and the leading BRC3 car after SS3 It’s been a long time since a woman has genuinely threatened to get amongst the men in the BRC and her performance was as impressive as it was welcome. McCormack was 14th overall in the BMW M3 after Myherin and had stretched his lead in the BHRC to over 19 seconds.
A calm professional drive from Meirion Evans and Dale Furniss netted 2nd.
Final stage before service, refuel and regroup was Tarennig, an 8 miler in the East of the Myherin complex and sadly a puncture was to put McRae out of contention for an overall win, just as he was getting into his stride. A mid stage wheel changed was required, two minutes were lost and Max and Cameron Fair dropped from 3rd to 13th overall. With McRae and Pearson well back Pryce and Evans were locked firmly in a two way all Welsh battle for the Severn Valley Stages. The Castrol MEM drivers were separated by just 3.4 seconds at service with Pearson a distant 3rd. Scott MacBeth was up to very impressive 4th overall with leading Welsh Championship contender Liam Clark 5th. Unfortunately, an early arrival at a time control had seen Damien Tourish docked 1 minute and he had dropped a long way behind McCormack in the historics with Paul Thompson now 2nd.
The first stage of the afternoon was a repeat of Sarnau. Pryce was fastest and took 5 seconds off Evans to open out a small breathing space, but more punctures than spare wheels ended Elliott Payne’s rally here. Everyone in rallying knows that the McRae bloodline is quick but all the way back to Jimmy, it is also famous for determined, gritty fightbacks from adversity. If anyone doubted that Max also has this quality he was about to answer that emphatically . Another trademark McRae fightback began in Sarnau and Max set about homing in on the top 10. McCormack was over a minute ahead now in the historics, as Nick Elliot’s Fiat 131 Abarth and Championship leader Ben Smith’s Porsche began to move up.
Scott MacBeth and Ross Whitock put in a smart sensible drive and left with a creditable 5th overall.
SS6 was back in the Myherin complex with another crack at the Roman Road stage. McRae’s charge back up the leaderboard gathered momentum with a fastest time taking him from 12th to 9th in just 3 miles. At the front Pryce took another second off Evans but otherwise there was little change with Pearson, MacBeth, Clark, Wilson, Sam Touzel and Dan O’Brien making up the top 7. McCormack, Thompson, Elliott and Smith were the top 4 historics and Irish driver Ben McFall led the BRC juniors as the rally headed into it’s final stage.
Nick Elliott and Dave Price bagged useful BHRC points.
Myherin Main was a real old school sting in the tail. It combined the earlier Myherin and Tarennig stages to serve up 18 miles of flowing twisting roads as the final act of the 2026 Severn Valley Stages. Pryce arrived at the stage finish fastest to rubber stamp the win by 19 seconds from Evans, who wisely decided that last minute heroics were not the order of the day and locked out the top 2 places for MEM and gained a good haul of BRC points. Again it was McRae who was the big mover on this stage, stopping the clocks just 1 second slower than Pryce after 18 miles and in the process destroying those in the lower half of the top 10 to scythe his way up from 9th to 4th at the finish. A fight back that his father, uncle and grandfather would all have been proud of. Pearson’s 3rd place was way out of reach though. The M-Sport backed Fiesta had been in situ since that spin, unable to catch those in front but unthreatened from behind. McRae’s charge had relegated MacBeth to 5th and Clark to 6th, the latter unburdened by concern for anything other than maximum Welsh Championship points, which he duly wrapped up. Sam Touzel finished 7th - it’s a learning curve for him on gravel but he’ll be in the mix on the tarmac rounds this year for sure. McFall nailed down the Junior category.
Also on the move on the final stage was Aiofe Raftery, who was 6th fastest overall through that tough intense final stage and moved up 3 places to finish a excellent 9th overall as well as confirming her win in the BRC3 category. Someone else on a mission on Myherin Main was Damien Tourish, who set a phenomenal time in the Mark 2 Escort to go 10th quickest overall and rocket from 5th to 2nd in the historics, but McCormack was already over the hills and far away.
Paul Thompson and Josh Davidson were an excellent 3rd in the BHRC.
It was certainly an interesting start to the BRC season with a distinct feeling that it’s all about to come to the boil over the next few rounds. It was a great result for MEM and a triumphant return for Pryce in particular and there’s more to come from him as he learns the Yaris, whilst Evans remains a cool, calm and experienced customer, not to be underestimated. Pearson continues to improve and is now a consistent podium finisher with the potential to win, whilst McRae overcame adversity to fight back strongly and quickly.
The scene is set for a mouth watering clash at the Jim Clark in May. All four of these will be contenders and Touzel will also be a threat on asphalt. so bring on round 2!
Final Results:
1.Pryce/Morgan Toyota 48 minutes 46.9 seconds
2.Evans/Furniss Toyota +19 seconds
3.Pearson/McKillop Ford +48.9
4.McRae/Fair Skoda +2 minutes 52 seconds
5.MacBeth/Whitock VW +2.53.4
6.Clark/Gilbey Ford +3.15.7
7.Touzel/Freeman +3.42.0
8.O’Brien/Fagg +3.56.5
9.Raftery/McDaid +4.25.8 (BRC3 winner)
10.McCormack/Mitchell +5.30.3 (BHRC winner)
15.McFall/Crozier +7.31.1 (BHRC Junior winner)
