A bumper 160 car entry will start this weekend’s Quinton Motor Club-organised Nicky Grist Stages – with competitors from six major rally championships gathering in Builth Wells on Saturday (July 9) for a fantastic action-packed rally festival, writes Mark Griffin.

Four-time British rally champion Keith Cronin is seeded at number one in his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5. He and co-driver Mikie Galvin arrive in Builth Wells leading the British Rally Championship, ten points ahead of Welsh crew James Williams/Dai Roberts in their Hyundai i20 R5.

Osian Pryce (co-driver Noel O’Sullivan) will carry number 100 on his Polo GTI R5 to celebrate his 100th rally start while local star Jason Pritchard is growing in confidence and experience with his latest mount - the four-wheel Volkswagen Polo GTI R5. Jason was happy to gain valuable extra mileage on the recent Sweet Lamb sprint trial where he took a comfortable win.

Making his British Rally gravel debut will be Max McRae, nephew of the late, great Colin McRae and son of Alistair. Max, who lives in Perth, is here in the UK to gain experience on British events, having started out his motor sport career in Australia.

Brecon Motor Club member Craig Jones and co-driver Ian Taylor will also be hoping for a successful home event. Craig also wheeled out his Focus on the recent Epynt Hill Climb and Sweet Lamb time trial to gain extra mileage in the car.

The event will run to its popular tried and tested one-day format featuring 44.38 stage miles on Natural Resources Wales and Defence Infrastructure Organisation Wales land. With a few innovative tweaks, this year’s route will contain some new sections of top-quality roads, some of which have never been used on the Nicky Grist Stages before.

This year’s event celebrates 13 consecutive years of title sponsorship from Nicky Grist Motorsports– and the long-standing support, advice, co-operation and friendship from Nicky Grist is enormously appreciated.

The event will be broadcast on several media channels, with action and driver interviews live-streamed by the BRC, BTRDA and Welsh championships.

The 2022 Nicky Grist Stages has teamed-up with Carbon Positive Motorsport to provide carbon offsetting as part of a long-term roadmap and commitment to mitigate the event’s carbon footprint. A special discount code (NG22S) has been created to use on the Carbon Positive Motorsport online sales platform, which is available for all competitors and spectators to use to carbon offset their event-related travel.

Scrutineering will take place the day before the event (Friday, July 8) at North Road Garage; the local Toyota dealership (owned by Eian Pritchard and his family) is located just a stone’s throw away from the service area on the other side of the River Wye.

Thanks to the magnificent support from Powys County Council and Builth Wells Town Council, this Saturday’s Nicky Grist Stages will start from Strand Street (outside Strand Hall, which is rally headquarters) in the centre of Builth Wells, with the first car flagged away at 08.31.

Crews will then tackle a loop of four gravel stages – Llyn Login, Monument, Halfway and Crychan – before returning to Strand Street for a regroup, followed by a midday service halt on the Builth Wells RFC pitch.

Crews will then head back for a repeat run over the four stages, before returning to Builth Wells for the podium finish ceremony, which will take place in Groe Park from 15.30 on the banks of the River Wye, with the landmark 18th Century bridge and surrounding rolling hills providing a stunning backdrop.

Spectator information can be found at: nickygriststages.co.uk.

2022 Nicky Grist Stages top 10 seeded entries

1. Keith Cronin/Mikie Galvin….Volkswagen Polo GTI R5

2. Elliot Payne/Patrick Walsh….Ford Fiesta Rally2

3. James Williams/Dai Roberts….Hyundai i20 R5

4. Garry Pearson/Dale Furniss….Ford Fiesta Rally2

5. Ruairi Bell/Max Freeman…. Škoda Fabia R5

6. Tom Llewellin/Ross Whittock….TBA

7. Matthew Hirst/Declan Dear….Ford Fiesta R5

8. Stephen Petch/Michael Wilkinson….Ford Fiesta

9. Perry Gardener/Jack Bowen….Ford Fiesta R5

10. Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke….Volkswagen Polo GTI R5