2026 Voly Grampian Forest Rally Report: Armstrong on the Loose!
Jon Armstrong and Shane Byrne were fastest on 7 of the 10 stages to win comfortably.
Words by James Downie for Rally Media UK. Images supplied courtesy of Michael Cramp/MJC Media.
WRC Stars Jon Armstrong and co-driver Shane Byrne emerged as overall winners of the 2026 Voly Grampian Forest Rally in the M-Sport Rally2 Fiesta, whilst Osian Pryce and James Morgan snatched maximum British Rally Championship points with fourth place overall.
The announcement that the WRC will be returning to Britain next season, using stages in this exact area, had attracted a number of high quality World Championship crews to the 2026 Grampian, eager to gain experience of the type of conditions that might be faced in in October 2027. It’s a fair call to say that this years Grampian possibly had the strongest international entry that a rally on british soil had seen since the 2019 Wales Rally GB. Armstrong would be joined by fellow M-Sport backed Fiesta crew Romit Jurgenson/Slim Oja, Lancia works WRC drivers Yohan Rossel and Nikolay Grayzin in Rally2 Ypsilons, plus the best of the British Rally Championship contenders in Max McRae/Cameron Fair in Skoda Fabia, and Osian Pryce/James Morgan and Meirion Evans/Dale Furniss in the Castrol backed MEM Toyota Yaris’s… a third M-Sport Fiesta was present for Garry Pearson/Hannah McKillop to challenge the leading crews but more importantly for this rally, they had the chance to clinch the Scottish Rally Championship. If that wasn’t enough, current World Rally Championship leaders Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin would open the road in a works Rally2 Yaris.
Osian Pryce/James Morgan stayed clear of trouble to take 4th overall and maximum BRC points.
The rally began in the evening of Friday 7th August with a 6 mile stage in Durris Forest. The long dry British summer had left the forest tracks dusty. and very loose. Dust would be certain to hang in the air and make visibility tough. Romet Jurgenson, who had been very quick here last year until a puncture ruined his rally, blasted into an early lead on the opener, beating Armstrong by 2 seconds. Armstrong reported that the stage was very loose on top and that he was having difficulty adapting to the Rally2 Fiesta’s lesser capability to carry speed into the corners compared to the Rally1 Puma. A further 5 seconds back in 3rd was McRae, with Pryce 4th and the Lancias of Rossel and Grayzin tied for 5th.
SS2 was the 5 and a half mile Finglennie stage in Feteresso Forest. Although Irishman Armstrong was fastest by second, it would be the Estonian Romit Jurgenson who would cling on to the overnight lead - just. Nicolay Grayzin, now competing as a Bulgarian national was 3rd fastest, ahead of his French team mate Yohan Rossel. Pryce was 5th fastest but moved up to 3rd overall and established himself at the front of the BRC pack. However, a slow puncture on this stage dropped Max McRae down the order from 3rd to 8th and would leave him with it all to do on Saturday. Evans held 7th overall and 2nd in the BRC overnight. After a puncture in Durris, Pearson was outside the top 10 but doing what he needed to do in the SRC race. Alex Vassallo and Chris Lees held an excellent 9th overall, and Scott Beattie led the SRC crews in 10th overall. Aiofe Raftery was 13th and dominating her class once again. Luke Constantine held a slender advantage over Sam Mason and Ben McFall in the BRC junior category.
And so to Saturday, and the main body of the rally. As overnight leader, Jurgenson would be first into the 8 stages. The surfaces were very loose and he would be acting as road sweeper for the rest.
The first stage was the relatively short Clatterin Kist stage further north. Not much of interest happened in the 4 miles… Grayzin slipped ahead of Pryce into 3rd although the Welshman was purely concerned with protecting his BRC position. Canadian driver Brandon Semenyuk, with experienced British co-driver Ross Whittock alongside was an impressive 4th quickest and an even more impressive 6th overall on his first visit to the UK.
Literally over the the road was SS4, Whitehaugh, which was slightly longer at around 6 miles. Armstrong was quickest but not by enough to snatch the lead from Jurgenson, who was battling hard to minimise his disadvantage as road sweeper.
In fact, the only real changes in the running order were at the bottom of the top 10 where Pearson leapfrogged Vassallo and Beattie to haul himself into the SRC lead and 9th overall.
From there the rally moved south east to the short spectator stage at BA Barn near Skene. At 1.5 miles there was never going to be much between the top crews but Armstrong did finally get past Jurgenson and into a 2 second lead. For the record, Max McRae set the fastest overall time.
This puncture on Friday night cost Max McRae/Cameron Fair any chance of challenging Pryce for BRC honours.
Five stages now remanined, but they were all tricky forest stages and the last one was a 10 miler. SS6 was a repeat of the previous night’s Finglennie stage and Armstrong stole another second from Jurgenson. Sadly it was the end of the road for Scott Beattie and Andy Falconer who retired the VW Polo from 11th overall with fuel pressure problems.
Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov claimed an excellent 3rd overall in the Lancia Ypsilon.
As the cars moved further south to the Drumtochty complex for the 8 and a half mile Scare Hill stage the pattern of the rally seemed settled. Armstrong used his road position advantage to steadily pull away from his Estonian team mate, who is spite of road sweeping used his previous experience of these stages to stay comfortably ahead of the impressive Grayzin’s 3rd placed Lancia. Osian Pryce had chosen not to get involved in the international battle ahead of him and instead consolidated his 4th place, well ahead of the other BRC contenders. Yohan Rossel stayed 5th and Semenuk held on to his fine 6th. The only real tight battle was between 7th placed Meirion Evans in the 2nd MEM Toyota who was 2nd of the BRC crews, and Max McRae, who after that early puncture had stormed back to within 1 second of the Welshman. Pearson had one hand on the SRC title and he and Vassallo completed the top 10 with Aiofe Raftery 11th on course for another category win. Luke Constantine in the Rally4 Opel Corsa was well clear in the BRC Junior category.
With 2nd fastest time behind Armstrong on Drumelzie (the old Strafinella/Drumtochty South stage) and then fastest time overall on Strathgyle (Back in Durris but using a different route to the night before), McRae sneaked past Meirion Evans into 7th overall and second in the BRC standings and held on through the final 10 mile Drumtochty stage. Indeed that was the only positional change in the top 11 towards the end of the rally. In truth, the outcomes of all the major battles were more or less decided by the Friday night stages. Once Jurgenson was established as the overnight leader, there was little chance of him holding Armstrong off whilst sweeping the loose roads, and Max McRae’s puncture meant that Pryce just had to get home to take maximum BRC points. Ditto Pearson, who was never seriously challenged on his way to wrapping up another SRC crown. Aiofe Raftery and Luke Constantine duly secured wins in their catagories.
Garry Pearson and Hannah McKillop were crowned SRC champions.
Despite it lacking many real ding dong battles, the 2026 Voly Grampian Forest Stages delivered a tough and tricky contest on stages with challenging surfaces that will be a credit to the World Rally Championship in October 2027.
Final Results:
Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne Fiesta 52 minutes 07.5seconds
Romit Jurgenson/Slim Oja Fiesta +9.3 seconds
Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov Lancia +39.6
Osian Pryce/James Morgan Toyota +51.7 BRC
Yohan Rossel/Arnaud Dunand Lancia +1m05.4s
Brandon Semenuk/Ross Whitlock Skoda+1.11.0
Max McRae/Cameron Fair Skoda +1.17.8 BRC
Meirion Evans/Dale Furniss Toyota +1.19.1 BRC
Garry Pearson/Hannah McKillop Fiesta +2.10.4 SRC & BRC
Alex Vassallo/Chris Lees Fiesta +4.02.3
Final BRC results
The published BRC classification lists the championship competitors separately from the full international entry: [britishral...ship.co.uk]
BRC
Crew
Car
Time
Overall
1
Osian Pryce / James Morgan
Toyota GR Yaris Rally2
52:59.2
4th
2
Max McRae / Cameron Fair
Skoda Fabia Rally2
53:25.3
7th
3
Meirion Evans / Dale Furniss
Toyota GR Yaris Rally2
53:26.6
8th
4
Garry Pearson / Hannah McKillop
Ford Fiesta Rally2
54:17.9
9th
5
Aoife Raftery / Ayrton Sherlock
Ford Fiesta Rally3
57:10.5
11th
6
Ian Bainbridge / Rhodri Evans
Toyota Yaris Rally2
59:22.8
15th
7
Dan O'Brien / Liam McIntyre
Ford Fiesta Rally2
59:50.2
18th
8
Luke Constantine / Ifan Devine
Opel Corsa Rally4
1:00:12.3
19th
9
Ben McFall / Damian McAuley
Ford Fiesta Rally4
1:00:44.3
21st
10
Sam Mason / James Seymour
Peugeot 208 Rally4
1:01:05.8
22nd
Verdict
The 2026 Grampian delivered two stories at once. At the front, Jon Armstrong demonstrated world-class speed to secure an emphatic first gravel victory and lead an M-Sport one-two. Within the British championship, though, the weekend belonged to Osian Pryce. Fourth overall against such high-quality opposition, achieved while nursing technical problems, translated into exactly what his title campaign required: maximum BRC points. [grampianfo...trally.com], [britishral...ship.co.uk]
With McRae and Evans separated by barely more than a second behind him, the Grampian also illustrated just how competitive the chasing BRC pack remained as the championship moved towards its decisive rounds. [britishral...ship.co.uk]
Writing approach: I’ve treated the outright rally and BRC contest as separate but interconnected stories, then used the ten-stage itinerary to give the report a chronological, publication-style structure. The result is focused on the championship battle while still giving Armstrong’s outright victory the prominence it deserves.
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Sources
You said:
Add a table of stage times
Copilot said:
Absolutely. A stage-times table fits neatly after the stage-by-stage analysis and makes the progression of the rally much easier to follow.
The available official timing search result confirms SS1 in detail, but it does not expose every subsequent individual stage time in the returned data, so I won't invent the missing figures. SS1 was won by Romet Jurgenson/Siim Oja in 5:34.3, 1.9 seconds ahead of Jon Armstrong/Shane Byrne. Osian Pryce/James Morgan opened their BRC challenge with 5:41.6. [rallies.info]
Stage times: SS1 Durris
Pos.
Crew
Car
SS1
1
Romet Jurgenson / Siim Oja
Ford Fiesta Rally2
5:34.3 [rallies.info]
2
Jon Armstrong / Shane Byrne
Ford Fiesta Rally2
5:36.2 [rallies.info]
3
Max McRae / Cameron Fair
Skoda Fabia Rally2
5:41.3 [rallies.info]
4
Osian Pryce / James Morgan
Toyota GR Yaris Rally2
5:41.6 [rallies.info]
=5
Nikolay GRYAZIN / Konstantin ALEKSANDROV
Lancia Ypsilon
5:43.2 [rallies.info]
=5
Yohan ROSSEL / Arnaud DUNAND
Lancia Ypsilon HF Rally2
5:43.2 [rallies.info]
7
Brandon Semenuk / Ross Whittock
Skoda Fabia RS
5:44.0 [rallies.info]
8
Meirion Evans / Dale Furniss
Toyota GR Yaris Rally2
5:47.4 [rallies.info]
The wider result confirms that Armstrong ultimately turned that 1.9-second opening-stage deficit into victory, winning seven of the ten stages and finishing the rally in 52:07.5, 9.3 seconds ahead of Jurgenson. Pryce finished fourth overall, 51.7 seconds behind, and took the BRC victory. [grampianfo...trally.com], [rallye-infos.site]
Writing change: I’ve added the verified timing data rather than extrapolating unavailable stage figures. This preserves the accuracy of the report while showing how closely matched the leading crews were at the beginning of the rally.
