The daunting Epynt ranges in Mid-Wales are the venue for round six of the Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the S&G Printing Harry Flatters Historic Rally on 1/2 August.

For the second asphalt event on the schedule, crews will head to Brecon for the event that starts with two stages on Saturday evening and continues with a full day on the ranges through Sunday.


Category 1

A slender field for category one will assemble for the challenge of around 80 miles on Epynt and it is Isle of Man winners Dessie Nutt and Geraldine McBride who will start as favourites in their Porsche 911. Nutt has a fine record on the Epynt stages and his neat and quick style will surely pay dividends as they continue their challenge for a second overall BHRC title.

However, it will be very interesting to see the pace of Rikki Proffitt and Phill Harrison in their similar ex-Steve Perez 911. Proffitt took the car to the Isle of Man and loved the chance to start learning about it, despite being stopped early by gearbox problems. If all goes well, the North Wales crew will be aiming to chase the Nutt/McBride Porsche.

Another crew in search of a major points' haul after driveshaft disasters on the Isle of Man is the Lotus Cortina pair of Paul Mankin/Desmond Bell, while the Mini Cooper S of Mike Bartlett/David Leslie completes the category one field.


Category 2

Absent from category two for the Harry Flatters are overall BHRC leaders Rupert Lomax and David Alcock, who have elected to make this one of their dropped scores while having a gearbox rebuild for their Escort Mk1.

Instead, it is the Escort of David Stokes/Guy Weaver running at the head of the category two field and they will be tough to beat over a venue that Stokes knows well. Chasing Stokes will be Ernie Graham/Andy Morgan in their Escort, along with local experts Neal James/Kevin Jones, having their debut rally in the ex-Jeff Churchill Escort Mk1 'ONY 2L'. Although he will be getting used to BDA power for the first time, James should be very quick.

In class C4, a gaggle of very quick Porsches will take the fight to the Escorts, with cars for Andrew Haddon/Nick Starkey, Derek Boyd/Simon Hunter, Peter Smith/Russ Langthorne and Peter Lythell/Gill Cotton.

As ever, the battle for class C3 will be fierce and it is class championship leaders Drew Wylie and Howard Pridmore at the head of the pack in their Pinto-engined Escort Mk1.