Nicky Grist Stages entries open, as BTRDA and Welsh Championship event will be first in Wales to run with relaxed split-field seeding

Entries are now open for the Nicky Grist Stages (Saturday 14 July) – with the official event Regulations and Entry forms published on-line at nickygriststages.co.uk.

This year’s Quinton MC-organised event will be the only rally to use Halfway and Route 60 this year – while the famous Crychan stage will be in prime condition, as will a brand new smooth, fast and flowing stage, which will be used for rallying for the very first time.

With service at the Royal Welsh Showground in Llanelwedd, this year’s event will offer competitors 45 miles of outstanding forest stages in a compact, all-action and no-nonsense route.

The 2018 Nicky Grist Stages will also be the first event in Wales to run under the new seeding guidelines, which sees a relaxation of the current ruling on seeding in the order of anticipated performance. The new ruling, which comes into force on July 1, will allow lower-powered cars like the BTRDA 1400 class and the Rally First Championship competitors to once again run at the front of the field – giving them improved road conditions and quite literally a level playing field on which to compete on. The classes running at the front of the field will be 1400S, 1400C, RF 1.4, RF 1.6, RF 2.0 and H1/2. This seeding system had, in previous years, attracted a large number of competitors, right across the classes.

This year’s Nicky Grist Stages will count towards a number of major championships, including the 2018 Jordan Road Surfacing BTRDA Rally Series, incorporating the BTRDA Gold Star, BTRDA Silver Star, BTRDA Production Cup, BTRDA 1400, BTRDA Rally First, BTRDA Historic Cup, BTRDA Rallye R2 Cup and the Fiesta ST Trophy, plus the Pirelli MSA Welsh Forest Rally Championship, FMP Rally Challenge and the Swift Shining Stars Rally Series.

Neil Cross, Nicky Grist Stages Clerk of the Course, said: “We are extremely happy with the route and format we have created for this year’s Nicky Grist Stages, which will give competitors forty-five classic Welsh forest stage miles, all of which will be in absolutely prime condition. And as event organisers we have done everything possible to keep the entry fee down as low as possible and to give competitors real value for money. We are the only event to use Halfway and Route 60 this year, Crychan is an old favourite and in the best condition we have ever seen, and we are introducing a new smooth, fast and flowing stage, which has never been used for rallying before. We are equally proud to be the first rally in Wales to run to the new relaxed seeded and split-field system, which means the lower-powered cars will start first. There will then be a short gap before the powerful four-wheel drive cars will be flagged away in seeded order, ensuring that every competitor gets an opportunity to compete on equal terms and on like-for-like conditions. We’re very excited by this year’s route and look forward to the event on Saturday 14 July.

Regulations and entry forms are available in the Competitors’ section of www.nickygriststages.co.uk

Nicky Grist Stages wins prestigious 2016 BTRDA ‘Rally of the Year’ award

The Nicky Grist Stages has won the prestigious Bill Turner Trophy for the Best Event in the 2016 Ravenol BTRDA Rally Series.

It’s the fourth time that the Quinton Motor Club-organised rally has won the award, having lifted the trophy in 2005, 2010 and 2012. It has also been nominated as one of the top three best organised BTRDA Rally Series events for the last six years in succession.

Luke Francis/John Roberts (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) scored BTRDA Rally Series victory on the Nicky Grist Stages last year, finishing over a minute ahead of Stephen Petch/Michael Wilkinson (Ford Fiesta R5+), with Paul Benn/Richard Cooke (Ford Focus WRC02) coming home in third. Charlie Payne/Carl Williamson (Ford Fiesta) led until electrical problems put them out, although that didn’t stop them becoming 2016 BTRDA Rally Series champions at season end.

In addition to the BTRDA ‘Rally of the Year’ award, which was presented to Quinton MC at the recent BTRDA awards evening at the Ramada Hotel in Sutton Coldfield, the 2016 Nicky Grist Stages also won the Pirelli MSA Welsh Forest Rally Championship Event of the Year award.

Quinton MC is currently busy finalising route details for this year’s Nicky Grist Stages – which will run over the weekend of 8-9 July. 2017 celebrates the 37th running of Quinton MC’s forest stage rally, the 30th consecutive year of it hosting a round of the BTRDA Rally Series, the seventh year of title sponsorship from Nicky Grist Motorsports and its second appearance as a round of the MSA British Rally Championship. Based at the Royal Welsh Showground near Builth Wells, this year’s event will retain its popular 2016 two-day mixed surface format, with gravel stages in the forests on the Saturday (8 July), and BRC crews continuing over the Tarmac stage of Epynt on the Sunday (9 July).

Neil Cross, Nicky Grist Stages Clerk of the Course, said: “Organising and running an event as big as the Nicky Grist Stages is a team effort and this award is a testimony to the hard work put in by everybody. Last year was the biggest challenge the event has ever faced; bringing three major championships together was tough but maintaining the quality the BTRDA has come to expect was one of our highest priorities and the fact we achieved that and were recognised by the BTRDA with the Bill Turner award for Best Event is something we are all extremely proud of.