Two Jokers and a gearbox: how the 2026 BRC title fight turned in Ceredigion
Osian Pryce arrived at Rali Ceredigion leading the 2026 British Rally Championship by 10 points and left it third, 20 behind. Max McRae and Meirion Evans each won a round with their Jokers, and Pryce’s gearbox failed on the Sunday.
Osian Pryce braked for a junction on the second Sunday stage of Rali Ceredigion, changed down from fifth to fourth, and the Toyota lost all drive. He had arrived in Wales leading the British Rally Championship by 10 points; he left it third, 20 behind.
Grampian: punctures for McRae, maximum points for Pryce
Pryce left the Grampian Forest Rally 10 points clear. Max McRae and Cameron Fair (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) were fastest of the BRC crews on the opening Durris stage despite a puncture near its end. On the next stage two more punctures left McRae nursing the car through the rest of it on two inflated tyres, and his early advantage went.
Pryce and James Morgan led their Castrol MEM team-mates in the other Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, Meirion Evans and Dale Furniss, by 11.2 seconds overnight. An engine pop-off valve problem was fixed for Saturday’s second loop. According to the team, it kept changing spring rates, damper settings and ride height through the rally to suit the road conditions as they changed. Before the start, as championship leader, Pryce had put his focus on scoring strong points and building a consistent tally. He won the BRC round by 26.1 seconds with maximum points.
After the rally Pryce admitted:
We weren’t completely happy with the car all weekend and struggled a little with the handling. We made a few changes and sometimes they worked, while other times they didn’t – we changed something before the final stage which, logically, should have been the right thing to do, but unfortunately it went the other way. It felt like we were chasing our tail a little at times, so there’s definitely some work to do to get the car where we want it on gravel.Osian Pryce
McRae came back on Saturday with three of the fastest BRC times on the opening loop and finished second despite a puncture on the final stage, 1.3 seconds ahead of Evans. A rock on SS2 had unsettled Evans’s car. McRae called second place after the Friday they had a big result for the championship.
Seconds. McRae beat Evans to second by 1.3s.
The rally ran on 7 and 8 August near Banchory, over ten gravel stages. It doubled as the FIA’s candidate event for Rally Scotland, expected on the 2027 WRC calendar, and World Rally Championship drivers took part. Jon Armstrong, who was not registered for BRC points, won overall, and Pryce was fourth overall, behind three WRC drivers.
The win left Pryce on 65 points, with McRae on 55 and Evans on 51. Pryce added:
Roll on the next one, know how to win this championship, and also how not to.Osian Pryce
Two scores from one weekend
Rali Ceredigion paid out twice, and Pryce arrived leading the championship, 10 points ahead of McRae and 14 ahead of Evans. After the Jim Clark Rally four scores had been left, and two of them came from this one asphalt weekend.
After the cancellation of the Kielder Carlisle Stages, a bulletin issued on 8 June made the rally rounds 4 and 5, much as it had counted in 2024. The best five of six scores still counted. Friday night and Saturday made one score; for points only, the clocks were then reset for Sunday’s four stages.
Reece Tarren, the BRC Championship Manager, explained:
After feedback received from our competitors, counting the event as two points-scoring opportunities offered the best all-round solution to retain the six-round season. It’s one of the toughest in the calendar and having two opportunities to score will certainly ensure a fantastic duel for a maximum score as the season heads towards its final round at the Cambrian Rally in OctoberReece Tarren, BRC Championship Manager
Two Jokers were declared before the event, McRae’s on round 4 and Evans’s on round 5. Pryce had not yet played his. According to the championship’s own preview, Pryce could win the title at Ceredigion if he won both rounds and McRae finished lower than third in both.
Pryce had won the event twice. As a rehearsal he won the Down Rally, though before Ceredigion he felt the car’s set-up on asphalt still needed a little work. Both of his BRC wins this season had come on gravel, on Michelin tyres; the one asphalt BRC round so far, the Jim Clark Rally, had gone to McRae on Pirelli.
Pryce’s plan was to treat the weekend as two rallies: even in a good position on Saturday night they could not ease off, because Sunday’s BRC points would need them back on it 100 per cent. Evans considered it important to win at least one of the two rounds. The weekend ran as 16 stages in two scores:
Saturday: five bonus points and a new leader
McRae won round 4, and a Joker turned the win into the championship lead. Through the afternoon it was Pryce who was gaining. After the midday service he set back-to-back fastest times and closed to 4.3 seconds behind McRae. Only the two Aberystwyth street stages were left, and McRae held on.
Friday had belonged to McRae. He led through the night with a lamp pod bouncing on his car and went into the overnight halt 2 seconds ahead of Pryce, who by his own account had begun on the back foot after qualifying. Evans won Saturday’s first stage, and he and Pryce were 0.1 seconds apart after the seventh test. By the afternoon loop Pryce felt the car was sorted, and he missed the maximum score by less than five seconds.
McRae, Pryce and Evans finished in that order. “It’s been a brilliant battle,” said McRae, and went on:
Thanks to Osian for the fight, I’m sure there will be another one tomorrow. I think if it wasn’t for that crazy push in stage ten, we wouldn’t have done it. It’s been a big challenge, but we have really enjoyed it; can’t quite believe it’s gone so quickly, and we are getting ready for Sunday already. If we can do the same tomorrow, that would be great!Max McRae
McRae scored 30: 25 for the win and five Joker points. Without the Joker he would have been on 80, three behind Pryce’s 83. Five bonus points turned three behind into two ahead, at 85. Evans, third, was on 66.
After the Grampian: Pryce 65, McRae 55, Evans 51
Sunday: rain, Evans’s Joker and Pryce’s gearbox
Sunday was a second contest, and Evans had put his Joker on it. Overnight rain had made the narrow, bumpy lanes more treacherous, and he was fastest on the opening test, more than three seconds ahead of Pryce and more than ten ahead of McRae. Pryce was the second-fastest BRC driver on it and moved up to fourth overall.
On SS14, the second stage of the day, Evans set another fastest time and Pryce’s Toyota stopped. Later Pryce described what happened:
Everything was going well on Sunday. On the stage we stopped, we were strong on the splits. We just braked for a junction and went from fifth to fourth gear, and immediately the engine revved. I thought I’d missed a gear at first, but we’d lost all drive and came to a stop. It looks like it might be the input shaft in the gearbox.Osian Pryce
Evans had saved part of his tyre package expecting a warmer day, but found his speed in the damp was really good. He was fastest again on the penultimate stage. On the closing Ty Glyn stage he took a measured approach and won, his first full-distance BRC victory. McRae was second, and Kalum Graffin (Fiesta Rally3) completed the BRC podium.
Evans scored 30 with his Joker, McRae 18 and Pryce 0. After the finish Evans reflected:
It looks like we picked the right day [to play his Joker], I didn’t really have any tactic for it; I just thought today it was close to home, and it would be nice to do it that way. We knew it would be all cards on the table for the championship; we had to win one of these days, and we managed to do that, so it gives us a chance going forward. We’ll give it a good go.Meirion Evans
Evans took 30 with his Joker and McRae 18.
Where the title fight stood after Ceredigion
One weekend reversed the order. Pryce had led after each of the first three rounds and was 10 points ahead on Friday; on Sunday night he was 20 behind. McRae led for the first time, 7 points ahead of Evans.
| Rounds 1–2 | Grampian | Ceredigion Sat | Ceredigion Sun | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max McRae | 37 | 18 | 30 Joker | 18 | 103 |
| Meirion Evans | 36 | 15 | 15 | 30 Joker | 96 |
| Osian Pryce | 40 | 25 | 18 | 0 | 83 |
Red: the round each driver won.
After the Grampian the order had been Pryce 65, McRae 55, Evans 51. After Saturday it was McRae 85, Pryce 83, Evans 66.
On 83 points, Pryce put it this way:
Having built up a healthy championship lead before Rali Ceredigion, the pressure’s back on now. But it’s good for the championship that there are three drivers fighting for the title on the last round of the series – so all we can do is bounce back and give it our best shot in a month’s time.Osian Pryce
McRae and Evans had each taken 30 points from their Joker rounds. Pryce’s Joker was still unplayed, and the Cambrian Rally, on 24 October, was the last round.