LAST weekend's 40th anniversary Rallynuts Stages brought together four major championships and the biggest entry in British rallying for possibly 20 years, with 80 cars lining up in the Mid Wales town of Llandrindod Wells, reports PAUL WILLETTS.

Round two of the Probite British Rally Championship ran alongside the BTRDA, Pirelli Welsh National, the Fuchs British Historic Rally Championship third round, and other regional series.

Adding to the quality were Dutch duo Jos Verstappen, father of F1 champion Max, and Roger Hodenuis in Wevers Sport-run Skoda Rally 2s, giving the Czech manufacturer its British debut of the new Skoda marque.

Verstappen ultimately took ninth, while Hodenuis crashed out late on.

After Friday evening's ceremonial start in town, Saturday saw seven tests and 62 miles in the classic forests of Hafren Tarenig Myherin, with rain, wind and mist making visibility difficult.

The morning's opening loop had four stages before heading to the Royal Welsh Showground for service, while the afternoon saw a rerun of the opening Cwmsgawen test, the morning’s Tarenig and Myherin stages linked for a near 16-mile test, and a different run of Hafren’s 13 miles.

Forest of Dean boy Craig Drew teamed with Chesterfield's Rhys Yates (the latter's first event in three years) in a VW Polo R5 hired from Dom Buckley after a mid-week test.

By service they held 10th but turbo waste gate issues, causing them to do stage five in road mode, saw them decide to retire from ninth – a disappointing end on a solid return for Yates.

Reigning 1400 champions Nigel and Karen Jenkins from Coleford in the NJ Autos Vauxhall Nova had a good battle with the Suzuki S1400 of Steve Black, who held a slender lead at service after Jenkins lost time with the car cutting out.

The battle raged until the final stage when the Nova ground to a halt.

Frantic work under the bonnet finally saw it fire up and they still managed some BTRDA points with sixth in class. but it was a disappointing end.

Jonathan Brace and Paul Spooner in the RS1600
Jonathan Brace and Paul Spooner in the RS1600 (PAUL MITCHELL PHOTOGRAPHY)

Jonathan Brace and Abergavenny's Paul Spooner in the Braces Bread Dave Jenkins Motorsport Mk1 Escort RS1600 had a terrific run to 37th, dominating their class for maximum Welsh  points

Cinderford's Adrian Williams teamed with Simon Rogers in his Mitsubishi Evo 6 looking for Welsh points, but a broken gearbox on stage 4 ended a promising run.

Newent farmer Geoff Phelps and Coleford's Colin Jenkins in the Hartpury Farms Escort RS1800, in the latter's 101st rally in the hot seat, had another solid drive netting Welsh points with 68th and sixth in class.

Gary Bollands and Nigel Baldwin rev it up in the Subaru
Gary Bollands and Nigel Baldwin rev it up in the Subaru (Paul Mitchell Photography)

Ross duo Gary Bollands and Nigel Baldwin went well until Stage 4 when they lost nearly nine minutes and 74 places in the GB Motor Services Subaru Stationwagon, but fought back to finish 124th.

Goytre’s Graham Thatcher and co-driver Tim Samuel in the PVM-backed TR7 V8 gained more valuable mileage finishing 125th, a place ahead of Newent’s Jeremy and Alex Harris in the immaculate Kilcot Garage Mk1 Escort Mexico.

Eventual winners were Osian Pryce and Rhodri Evans in the Hills Ford, G&M Pryce Fiesta Rally 2 by 20 seconds from Irish pair William Creighton and Liam Regan.

Round one winner Chris Ingram with Alex Kiurhani took third in the Castrol-liveried VW Polo R5.