Top Step of the Podium for Mellors and the Proton Iriz R5 in Grizedale

Ollie Mellors fought off some very strong competition last Saturday (2nd December) to take the victory of the Grizedale Stages rally in the Lake District in his Mellors Elliot Motorsport (MEM) prepared Proton Iriz R5.

The rally’s itinerary included a new stage – “Chapel House” as well as 16 miles through the infamous Grizedale forest. The strong entry list included BTRDA Gold Star champion for 2017 Stephen Petch in his Ford Fiesta, Irishman Josh Moffett in a similar car and Paul Bird in a Ford Focus 07 WRC.

BTRDA Gold Star Champion – Stephen Petch was among the names on the entry list.

Bird, having competed in a rally in Barbados the previous weekend, struggled to adapt back to the slippery British gravel and put his car in a ditch in stage 3, forcing him to retire from the rally. Petch was sitting comfortably in third after the early stages but the battle for first was close between Moffett and Mellors, with little to separate them after the first two stages. However, Mellor’s blistering run through the first running of the 16 mile Grizedale stage allowed him to gain an advantage over the Fiesta of Moffett. He maintained this lead for the remaining stages to take the rally victory by 22 seconds over the irishman.

The first running of Grizedale separated the top crews.

With the 2017 edition of the rally marking the Grizedale Stage’s 30th Anniversary, the organisers utilised the Windermere car ferry in the competitors route to the first stage to celebrate the history of the event.

Full results can be found here.