Brands Hatch Winter Stages Rally…

The 2016 rally season got underway at Brands Hatch last weekend (31st January) with the return of the MGJ Engineering/Brands Hatch Winter Stage Rally – the event also included round 5 of the Motorsport News Circuit Rally Championship…

With over 100 cars entered, ranging from the mighty Subaru Impreza’s, Mitsubishi Lancer Evos to rally favourite the Ford Escort right down to the humble Nissan Micra, with a couple of exotics, the Peugeot 306 Maxi and the Darrian T9/T90 also thrown into the mix.

The stages took place mainly on the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit but also made use of the paddock, pits and behind the pit garages along with the rally school stage at the back of the Kent track. Slippery conditions greeted the competitors at the start, catching quite a few of the boys and girls out, but as the day went on fortunately the weather changed for the better.

The competition was close throughout the day but the overall win went to Chris West and Steve McNulty driving their Peugeot 306 Maxi with Ashley Fields and Ryan Vickers in the stunning Darrian T90 GTR+ finishing second. James Sharrock and Stuart Faulds secured third place on the rostrum in their Ford Escort MkII.

It was great to see this event back on the Brands Hatch calender after a long absence, clearly a popular move as a fair sized crowd turned out for the event – lets hope this meeting continues in 2017 and maybe even the return of the Summer Stages…

Full results can be found here.