Osian Pryce wins British rally title by 1.2 seconds on final Cambrian stage
Archive article. Published on Sun 25 Oct, 12:14. Conditions may have changed since this reporting.
Osian Pryce has won the British Rally Championship for the second time after beating Max McRae by 1.2 seconds on the final stage of the season at the Cambrian Rally in north Wales on Saturday. Pryce and co-driver James Morgan won the rally, the championship’s last round, in what the series called biblical conditions, with torrential rain and strong winds across nine forest stages. It is Pryce’s second British title, after 2022, and Morgan’s first.
How the title was settled
- Gap after McRae’s stage three spin
- 15.9s before his afternoon charge
- Gap before the final stage
- 5.9s
- McRae’s gain on the final stage
- 4.7s
- Pryce’s winning margin
- 1.2s
- Pryce’s British titles
- 2 (2022, 2026)
Decided on the last stage
McRae and co-driver Cameron Fair, in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, set the pace over the opening two stages while Pryce was slowed by a minor technical problem with his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. The lead changed on stage three, when McRae spun in standing water and lost around 15 seconds. He attacked after the mid-point service, cutting a 15.9-second deficit to 5.9 seconds before the final stage, then took 4.7 seconds out of Pryce on it. That left him 1.2 seconds short.
Evans out on stage five
Three crews arrived in north Wales with a chance of the title. The third, Pryce’s fellow Welshman and Castrol MEM team-mate Meirion Evans, with Dale Furniss, was 3.7 seconds off the lead early on but went off the road under braking on the fifth stage and could not continue. Pryce had won the Severn Valley Stages and the Grampian Forest Rally earlier in the season, but retirement on the Sunday of Rali Ceredigion had put his title hopes in doubt.
What they said
“I never thought I’d be in the position to win this title again,” Pryce said. “We’ve had our ups and downs since the last one, but I’ve kept persevering.” He added that it had been exciting to take the title to the last stage of the last rally, “but I’d have rather it been a bit of a bigger gap!” McRae said: “That was the hardest stage I’ve ever driven. That is gutting, but we fought so hard.” Charlie Tuthill, with Sion Williams, finished third overall on his championship debut in a Ford Fiesta Rally3, which also won the BRC3 category.