THE British Rally Championship resumes this weekend after a long 11-week break, with series leaders Osian Pryce/James Morgan and their Castrol MEM Rally Team stable-mates Meirion Evans/Dale Furniss aiming to strengthen their championship title challenge on the Voly Grampian Forest Rally (7/8 August).
The Castrol Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 duo started the season with a magnificent one-two finish on the opening Severn Valley Stages in April, before scoring another double podium finish on the Jim Clark Rally in May.
As a result, Osian heads to Round 3 in Aberdeenshire leading the BRC, while Meirion is a mere four points behind in third.
And both drivers have previous experience and a good record on the ultra-fast Scottish gravel forest roads.
Osian has finished runner-up on the Grampian Forest Rally three times.
Victory narrowly eluded him on his last appearance in 2024, when a spin on a narrow section of road proved costly.
During his title-winning 2022 season, the 33-year old Machynlleth-born driver finished second in a Melvyn Evans Motorsport-prepared Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, while he also finished second on his first appearance in 2021.
Meirion has contested the Grampian Forest Rally twice before.
In 2025 he finished third, losing a position thanks to an overshoot.
The year before, the 31-year old Lampeter driver fought back from an early puncture to climb from 11th to finish sixth.
Osian said: “We're really looking forward to Grampian. One of the advantages this year is that we've got a bit of material to work with, as some of the stages have been used before, so we've been able to study onboard footage and prepare as much as possible.
“On rallies like this, where the roads are so fast and you've got so much commitment, any extra information is invaluable.
"We're still learning the Toyota on gravel.
“We've only had one test and one event so far, so there's definitely more to come as we continue to get comfortable with the car.
“We've got another test before the rally starts and, if we can tick all the boxes there, we should arrive in a good place.
"We’ve been seeded at car number five, which should be okay.
“So long as all of the British Rally Championship contenders are in a similar position, it's fair for everyone and I don't think anybody will have a huge advantage or disadvantage with regards to road position.
"Obviously we're leading the championship, so the focus has to be on scoring strong points.
“If we can challenge the international crews then that's great, because it shows we're right on the pace, but our main battle is for the British Rally Championship.
“We'd all love to win every rally, but it's a long championship and it's important to keep building a consistent points tally.
“If we can come away from Grampian with another strong result and maintain our position at the top of the standings, we'll be very happy."
Meirion added: “The Grampian is a nice rally. I enjoyed it the first time we were here in 2024, and our pace improved as the event went on.
“Then last year was the first time we’d shown podium pace on gravel with a few good stage times, and we ended up with third after an overshoot.
“We had a good battle with Max McRae last year too, so I'm looking forward to being back in the Aberdeenshire forests.
““There are a few extra drivers joining the event this year, but we don't want to get too distracted by them.
“The priority is the British Rally Championship, especially as we're in a decent position after the first two rounds.
“We’ve finished second on both rounds so far this year and beaten both Max and Osian, but not on the same day.
“Our performance on the first two rounds was pretty good to be fair, but we know that to have a really good chance of winning the championship you need to try and win rallies.
“There are four points scoring opportunities left and we've been quite consistent, so it’s all to play for.
“We’ll have a short test before the Grampian Rally starts to fine-tune our feeling in the car, because the roads are quite different up here compared to the Welsh forests.
“If we can get a good feeling in the car we can push from the start and see what we can do.
“As always, it's not going to be easy. But it’s been a long break and we’re just looking forward to putting our game face back on and getting going again.”
This year’s Grampian Forest Rally begins with two stages covering 12 stage miles on Friday evening, followed by a further eight high-speed forest stages covering 47 stage miles on Saturday.
King George V Park in Banchory will host the start and finish ceremonies, while the service area will be based at Milton of Crathes.
The event will be streamed live on Grampian Rally TV, which is available to view for free across social media.
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