The inaugural Yorkshire Hill Rally will start next Friday with almost 50 competitors facing a very tough 16 stages over three days, covering over 100 miles of competitive action.
That’s Motorsport Ltd. have organised the event and it will be a round of both the Motorsport UK British Cross Country Championship (BXCC) and the Defender Rally Series.
The event will be based at Acaster Malbis airfield near York. This venue will be the site of Rally HQ, the service park and four of the stages.
A high quality entry has been received, including most of the BXCC competitors and nine crews from the Defender Rally Series.
Leading the BXCC after three rounds are Paul Rowlands and Neil Lloyd on 248 points after a dominant win at the previous event in Wales. They’ll be racing their PAR Homes Racing Can-Am X3 Maverick R. Aston Cox and Simon Kerfoot are in second place on 236 points but Cox has not entered the event. His navigator Kerfoot will be present though, driving the “0” car ahead of the competitors. Third place on the BXCC leaderboard are Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy and they will be racing in Yorkshire in their ex-Simmonite Sisters Fouquet Nissan.
In the Defender Rally Series Mark Thomas and Phil Mackay lead the way with 232 points after three wins in the opening four rounds. Richard Kingsley-Smith and Adel Tyson are second on 160 points with Denis Ferry and Barney Gillespie just behind with 157.
As well as competitors in the BXCC and the Defender Rally Series, the event has attracted a wide variety of crews and cars, including seasoned hill rally campaigners and those doing their first ever hill rally.
Adrian Eason-Bassett makes a welcome return to motorsport at the Yorkshire Hill Rally after having both kidney failure and treatment for cancer. He will be driving his 1987 Range Rover Classic which is standard production spec apart from a BMW 2.8 6-cylinder engine. He has competed on a range of events with the car, including stage rallies and comp safaris. He contested the full BXCC season in 2010 and also did a one-off BXCC event in 2019.
“I’ve not been in a position to participate much over the past few years,” said Eason-Bassett. “The Yorkshire Hill Rally is my return event after a long battle with kidney failure. I received a new kidney from an anonymous donor, who is sadly no longer with us, 18 months ago and then earlier this year I had cancer treatment which I am clear from now.”
“I am very lucky to have made so many friends through offroad motorsport, one of which is Brian Huggy Farmer who has bravely agreed to be my speaking ballast for the event. He’s an experienced offroader who has competed at the highest level in the UK and France. Without his support and the support of our service crew I would not be able to compete on the event.”
“My thanks go to Jon Aston and his team of organisers, the marshals, the medics, the recovery crews and the landowners. Without them we would not be able to do what we love: go fast and show off!”
There’s a contrast of experience in the crew of car 386, the Friesian Racing Land Rover Discovery of Henry Webster and Emrys Kirby. Webster is a long time hill rally competitor with experience in both the driver and co-driver seats. His first event was the Scottish Hill Rally in 1996. Kirby’s first event was the 2022 Welsh Borders Hill Rally but, as technical journalist for Classic Land Rover magazine, he makes up for his lack of experience with mechanical know-how.
The Friesian Racing team was formed in 2004 and specialise in hill rally events, having success in both the UK and France, including a production vehicle podium at the prestigious Rallye des Cimes. Their Discovery is known as “MuddyMoo” – look at the livery you will understand why!
Another crew with different levels of experience is Toby Jefferson and Neil Hartley who’ll be racing their GSR 206.
Jefferson commented: “It will be Neil’s first hill rally and only his third event after two BXCC rounds this year. In contrast the old fat driver who used to be a bit fast a long time ago has lots of hill rally stories, not all ending with a good result!”
“I’m hoping my been there done that attitude will hopefully get us an ok finish. The service crew have a certain age and hope not to do much over the weekend! Fingers crossed for good weather and ice creams needed in the car. Thanks to all the volunteers and marshals who make an event like this possible.”
Making their hill rally return after many years away are Stephanie Lee and Rachael Dilworth aka the Simmonite Sisters. The sisters had lots of success in offroad motorsport, winning both the British and French offroad championships. They were also successful during a foray into stage rallying, winning the British Rally Championship Ladies title three years running. They’ll be racing a Lofthouse Freelander.
Alex Parpottas and Steven Parker will be giving the new Ineos Grenadier racer its competitive debut, having been premiered at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. Parpottas brings a wealth of rallying experience to the drive as well as winning the AWDC championship in 2018.
The RS Offroad team of Reece and Sean Mathieson have repaired their Land Rover Discovery after it incurred damage at the Scottish Summer Hill Rally earlier this year and they are looking forward to a good run in Yorkshire.
The car was previously owned by John Pickering who competed on several hill rallies and BXCC rounds. John sadly passed away in 2022 but his car lives on in the hands of the Mathiesons. The team raced a Freelander in 2023, winning the Freelander Challenge.
The event will start on Friday afternoon with four stages, including two spectator stages at the airfield. The bulk of the competitive mileage will be on Saturday and Sunday, with Sunday including two more runs of the spectator stage. There is no spectator access to any of the Saturday stages or any of the non-airfield Friday and Sunday stages. Spectator information and a downloadable event programme is available at theyorkshirehillrally.com.
Live results will be available via rallies.info/res?e=603&i=300.
The Yorkshire Hill Rally is supported by Birchall Foodservice, PAR Homes, Voxcloud, The Discovery Centre, RCM 4×4, Gregg Motorsport, Fairview Farm Log Cabins and Holiday Accommodation, Fairview Farm Machinery, NickyGrist.com, OR Tyres and PD Extinguishers.
Images courtesy of Songasport, Bowler Motorsport and Alisdair Cusick.
