Ever since Wales Rally GB dropped off the World Rally Championship calendar in 2020, the UK rally scene has been bereft of a global event. But the wait is finally over as this weekend marks the return of international-level rallying in Britain with the European Rally Championship hosting its penultimate round of the season in Wales.
While the rally-mad nation’s famous gravel forest WRC stages continue to lie dormant, the emergence of Rali Ceredigion offers a new breed of high-speed asphalt tests, where the best from the European continent and Britain will do battle. Perhaps more importantly, the 14-stage event is seen as a beacon of hope for British rallying and an opportunity to showcase itself on the international stage once again.
“I think it’s hugely important for UK rallying,” event director Charlie Jukes tells Autosport on the eve of the ERC’s return to Wales for the first time in 28 years. “I think everyone really has shared a bit of concern about what’s going on and how tough the sport is. I think rallies themselves, we need this high-profile type of event to be able to keep the whole thing going.”
It’s been quite a remarkable rise for the asphalt rally based out of Aberystwyth in the picturesque Ceredigion region. This weekend marks only its fourth running, having made its debut in 2019. Since then, and following a two-year COVID-19-induced hiatus, the rally has grown rapidly, making its British Rally Championship debut in 2022. This year it has secured its intended target – a place on the coveted ERC bill – as part of a multi-year deal.
Its rapid success is down to a team of passionate and dedicated members and volunteers from four motor clubs – Newtown Motor Club, Teifi Valley Motor Club, Lampeter Motor Club and Aberystwyth Motor Club – who shared a vision. The rally also owes itself to a 2017 change in the Road Traffic Act 1988 that now permits closed-road motorsport events in the UK. Led by Jukes, the initial inspiration for the rally wasn’t triggered by Wales Rally GB’s sudden demise but from an event in Essex.
“After Clacton-on-Sea ran the first closed road rally [in 2018], I sat in the office and thought, ‘well, we need to be doing this in Wales,’ so I rang a few different people that I thought could put it all together,” recalls Jukes. “I couldn’t believe how quickly it came together.
“There were four clubs involved, and it grew from there, but the ambition was always to take it to ERC from day one. It has happened a lot quicker than we were expecting. Obviously with COVID we missed two years as well, but the amount of support for the event in the locality is unbelievable – that’s what has really helped us take it to where it is today, the support from local businesses and council and all the stakeholders.”
Organising motorsport events often requires significant funding. For example, Ireland’s recent bid to land a spot on the 2025 WRC calendar required €15million in government funding spread across a three-year period. It was the lack of funding that resulted in this proposal being put on ice, and it was a similar story for Northern Ireland’s WRC project that aimed to secure the WRC in 2022 and 2023.
While the costs to stage an ERC event are lower than the WRC, the belief in the Ceredigion project from the local community and the tireless work of volunteers has refreshingly been duly rewarded. It’s this support, instead of large grants from government or Motorsport UK, that has provided the backing to put Wales and the UK back on the international rally map.
"It’s only a benefit for UK rallying, having been involved with Rally GB. It will not only help the profile of the sport, it also helps our competitors because they’ll get to measure themselves against the best in Europe"
Iain Campbell
“We’ve done it all ourselves, and it’s all down to the team of super people that we’ve got involved from all over Wales and beyond,” adds Jukes. “Most of the funding is coming from the locality, and the support from local business has been absolutely phenomenal. It’s support from all angles, whether it’s been cash or product or just labour support. This is still all volunteer-led.”
This effort hasn’t gone unnoticed by the competitors, including Welshman Osian Pryce. He will be aiming for a hat-trick of Ceredigion wins to add to his 2019 and 2023 triumphs, piloting a Ford Fiesta Rally2.
“It’s nice to have something of real status back as Rally GB is missed,” says Pryce. “It’s the European Championship, it’s not quite world championship, but it’s hopefully a step in the right direction.
“At the end of the day, these are all people that have jobs and the majority are pretty much volunteers. So when you think about it, if they could do that, then there’s no reason why our governing body couldn’t push for something else and maybe get Rally GB back.
“I know it’s not as simple as that. But when you look at the scale of the work, I know some of them fairly well, and I know how hard they work in their day job. To do this, it’s a massive task and fair play to them for even attempting it, let alone pulling it off.”
Three-time British Rally champion Mark Higgins, who is set to cross the start ramp in a Subaru Impreza on Friday, believes volunteers are often taken for granted rather than praised for keeping motorsport alive.
“We’ve got to keep the volunteers interested and appreciate it because, without them, these things just don’t happen,” says Higgins. “If I look at the rallies I’ve done this year, it’s the same sort of marshals that have been doing it for 20-30 years and, when that generation retires, there’s not enough of the new generation coming through.”
This extraordinary effort and belief to bring a major rally event to Wales was quickly brought to the attention of the WRC Promoter, which runs the ERC, resulting in the long-term agreement that begins this year. According to ERC manager Iain Campbell, it was an easy discussion to add Rali Ceredigion to the calendar given the support it has garnered and its unique high-speed, crest-laden, tricky stages that travel through the Welsh countryside.
“It’s going to be something that’s unique for the championship and a different type of Tarmac,” says Campbell. “But we also know that the organisation behind it, with Charlie Jukes leading his team and rally control, is pretty much the faces that I would have seen when I was clerk of the course of Rally GB, so there’s a huge amount of experience there and depth of knowledge.
“From a European Championship point of view, it was quite an easy discussion. We have the ambition of the event, very enthusiastic backers and the local authority are desperate for the event to be there. We want to be in the UK market, as well, so altogether we were heading in the same direction. There was very little pushback, so that makes for a good partnership.”
While the rally organisers have been clear that there are no plans to bid for the WRC in the near future, the rally has been heralded as a step in the right direction for future WRC projects in Britain. It represents an opportunity to showcase to prospective backers what can be achieved and proof that rallying remains a popular form of motorsport. These are among the key factors that are required to help secure funding to put on major international motorsport events.
“We have a long-term commitment with them so we want to see that grow,” adds Campbell. “For me it’s only a benefit for UK rallying, having been involved with Rally GB. It will not only help the profile of the sport, it also helps our competitors because they’ll get to measure themselves against the best in Europe.
“All of a sudden, our stage commander teams, our marshals are now going to be back to deliver to international standard. So UK rallying will benefit not just this weekend in August, but across the whole season.
“I think everybody knows that Motorsport UK has the ambition to get the World Rally Championship back into the UK. It’s not the work of a moment, so everything that could be done to do that [showcase rallying] will help.”
While there are many looking to the future, Jukes and the team behind Rali Ceredigion are firmly focused on the now as 140 crews, led by the current European champion and 2016 Rally Argentina winner Hayden Paddon, head to Aberystwyth in a bid to conquer some of Wales’s most challenging asphalt roads.
The UK is ready to embrace international rally competition for the first time in five years, and just maybe Ceredigion could be the catalyst for a British rallying revival on the world stage.
