Rally Archive
Rali Bro Caron
Sponsored by Windy Corner Coaches
Lampeter & District Motor Club
1st/2nd March 2025
Winners: Ieuan Evans/Michael Gilbey (Ford Escort)
Photograph: © Alun Rees Photography
Organiser: Lampeter & District Motor Club
Date: 1st/2nd March 2025
Clerk of the Course: Dafydd Evans & Cadog Davies
Route: 100 Miles (Maps 146)
Base: Lampeter
Starters: 88
The ceremonial start of the Rali Bro Caron once again took place under the iconic arch at the Black Lion Hotel on Lampeter's main street, a familiar rallying sight, dating back to the Motoring News Championship days.
Eighty-eight crews faced a demanding 100 mile route, which for most of the event used the lanes between the West Wales university town and the coast. There was to be very little respite for the competitors as almost every section caused all to drop time.
The 2024 winning driver Chris Richmond Hand, due to work commitments, was unable to take his place at Car 1, so Shaun Richards, his partner in success, drafted in Arwel 'Agri' Evans to join him as top seed.
The Bro Caron was Round Three of the Welsh Road Rally Championship, with most of the leading contenders amongst the runners; the only missing hopefuls were Kevin Kerr/Huw Rhys Manion, who had withdrawn their entry a couple of days before the off.
Reigning Welsh Champion, George Williams, had a previous title holder Dylan Jenkins on the maps for the Bro Caron as Williams' regular partner, Cadog Davies, was doing duty as Clerk of the Course.
The first competitive section started at Ty Mawr, south-east of Llanybydder, and looped around Banc Melyn to finish back at the B-road. Taking place before Midnight, it was timed to the minute and all bar three cars cleaned it.
Malcolm 'Tar' Jones/Rhys Jones started at Car 13, and got no further than the opening test before the thrust bearing failed on their Renault Clio.
The competition began in earnest on the next section, a six-minuter that ran from Rhydcymerau to Tredomen, going via the Cwm-Dawe complex. It started at Midnight and was timed to the second. All were late at SF4. Fastest here were Cambrian winners, Ieuan Evans/Michael Gilbey (Ford Escort), they were nine seconds ahead of Arwel Hughes Jones/Dylan John Williams (Ford Escort).
The third section was in traditional Bro Caron territory; it started at Llanycrwys and looped up to the Clywedog Plantation and Cellan before finishing on the opposite side of the hill from where it started. There were two TCs as well as the Finish Control. Jones/Williams were quickest to the first TC, they were seven seconds ahead of Evans/Gilbey; this was the closest that the challengers would get to the leaders.
The battle for third place at this point was between Iwan Jones/Dafydd Sion Lloyd (Ford Escort) and Stefan 'DR' Davies/Kieran Price (Ford Escort); they were separated by two seconds, with Davies/Price ahead, they were 15 seconds off the lead.
Meanwhile second fastest were the Semi-Expert crew of Philip Jenkins/Lewis Jenkins (Ford Escort), winners of the class on the Cambrian Rally; they were to be consistently on the pace throughout the night and ended the event in ninth place overall.
The next section was a Bro Caron classic, using the tight lanes around Parc-y-Rhos, south west of Lampeter. Hughes/Williams were fastest on this, but only three seconds ahead of Evans/Gilbey. Unfortunately, Lewis Morgan/Marc Hughes (Ford Escort) rolled and blocked the road for the cars behind. The penalties for the section were cancelled.
SS12 was at Silian, the route then moved northwards through Llundainfach and Penlanlas. There were two TCs plus the finish control. Evans/Gilbey were best at the two controls timed to the second and started to draw out a lead that was to take them to a comfortable victory.
Third placed Davies/Price retired on this section when their Escort's engine expired. Shortly afterwards they were joined on the Non-Finishers list by Andy Davies/Andrew Lowe, who had been in fourth; their Impreza started to cut out and then when the gearbox started to misbehave the crew decided to withdraw. Also out at this point was previous Bro Caron winner John Davies, who had Eurig Davies on the maps; their Astra broke a drive shaft.
The leaders' position was cemented on the following section when Hughes/Williams had a nightmare; the pair missed the exit to the Lletty Shon White and dropped a minute at the following time control, which all other front runners cleaned. The pair then missed a slot before TC19 and lost another 45 seconds to the leaders. The result was that they fell to fourth at the petrol halt which was taken at Llwyncelen at around two thirds distance.
At the break Evans/Gilbey led Jones/Lloyd by almost a minute and a half, while Daniel 'Lwni' Jones/Gerwyn Barry (Ford Escort) were in third 34 seconds further back. The closest battle was for fourth where Hughes/Williams were now just one second ahead of Williams/Jenkins, while Richard Jerman/Alan James (Ford Escort) were another five seconds back. Notably, the top eleven positions were held by Escorts.
The competition restarted with a four minuter in the lanes near Cross Inn. Evans/Gilbey were quickest, as they were at the next three critical controls. On the Llanarth to Oakford section Jenkins/Jenkins were fastest, but they were a little too quick and booked into TC25 ten seconds early; with double penalties for early arrival, they added 20 seconds to their total, but this was still the least penalties picked up at the control, Evans/Gilbey were 28 seconds late there.
The top positions remained unchanged until Jones/Barry, who were in a clear third place, suffered a puncture on the penultimate section of the night; they lost so much time changing the wheel that they cut to the Finish.
The leading placings were well spread out and the top five pulled further away from the field as they were the only ones to make TC31, which was timed to the minute, on time, everyone else added at least a minute to their totals.
Evans/Gilbey continued to reel off a series of fastest times and came home to make it two Welsh Championship victories in succession. Their winning margin at the end was 2m50s.
Iwan Jones/Dafydd Sion Lloyd, were in second place in the finishing table, ending 1m55s behind the winners. However, they, along with Lewis Morgan/Marc Hughes, were disqualified after an altercation in the Start Car Park between two of the crew members. A seemingly draconian penalty for those of the pairings not involved.
These dramas meant that Hughes/Williams, who had matched the winners' pace over much of the second half, recovered to take the runner up spot. Owain Davies/Arfon Griffiths (Ford Escort) moved up from tenth place at the halfway point to secure the final podium place.
The top Expert crew, Gethin Dafis/Dion Lewis (Ford Escort), were fourth, more than three minutes ahead of their nearest class rivals, these were Huw Rowcliffe/Andrew Gaunt (Toyota Corolla), they finished in tenth place and were the first non-Escort home.
Jenkins/Jenkins continued their domination of the Semi-Expert Class and finished in ninth place, while the leading Novices were Connah Urquhart/Iwan Twigg (Vauxhall Nova).
The Bro Caron was an excellent event, with the winners dropping time at fourteen controls, only once being more than a minute late.
RESULTS
- Overall Positions
- Award Winners
- Class Positions
- Time Penalty Details
- Fail Penalties
- Overall Positions at RF15
- Overall Positions at Petrol
- Non-Finishers
- List of Starters
- Unofficial WAMC Points