UK rally news: Oulton Park ends the season with eight stages and a bonfire

Oulton Park closes its season on Saturday 7 November with a full house for the Salford Van Hire Neil Howard Stages: more than 100 rally cars over eight stages, then a bonfire and a fireworks display. The same weekend brings nine stages across two days at Castle Combe and a rally hill climb at Prescott that finishes in the dark, and a new review has gone back to the rounds that set up the 2026 British Rally Championship title fight.

In this week’s UK rally news:

• Oulton Park closes its season with eight stages
• Castle Combe and Prescott fill the rest of the weekend
• Four marshalling clubs, and a free way in
• The BRC title fight, retold from round one

Oulton Park closes its season with eight stages and a bonfire

Pace notes: Bolton-le-Moors Car Club takes over Oulton Park on Saturday 7 November for the circuit’s last meeting of the year, laying out eight bespoke stages of up to 54 miles to start the 2026/27 Protyre Circuit Rally Championship season. The entry is full at more than 100 cars, and a bonfire and fireworks display follow the final stage.

Splits:

• Michael Igoe, the reigning Circuit Rally champion, leaves the Citroën C3 Rally2 behind and drives a Skoda Fabia Rally2, with Kirsty Riddick in the co-driver’s seat in place of Will Atkins.
• John Griffiths and Emma Morrison, runners-up last season, are entered in another Fabia Rally2 in white and green, and the list also carries a Porsche GT3 and a GTM Libra.
• Legend Performance posted the finished Fiesta Rally2 built for its new owner, with a good-luck message for the Neil Howard Stages.
• The rally paddock is open to spectators, with a Subaru and Mitsubishi display, an artisan market, simulators and a funfair alongside the stages.

The circuit’s published timetable sets out the running order for the day. It is marked provisional and subject to change.

Time	Session
08.00	Gates open
08:30	Stage 1 starts
09:39	Stage 2 starts
11:07	Stage 3 starts
12:13	Stage 4 starts
13:47	Stage 5 starts
14:51	Stage 6 starts
16:14	Stage 7 starts
17:19	Stage 8 starts
18:30	Bonfire lit, approximate
18:45	Fireworks display, approximate

The road ahead: Saturday is round one of nine in the Circuit Rally season, which moves to Cadwell Park on 22 November, so the entry here shapes the championship table until then. Our event page holds the seeded order and the spectator notes together.

Castle Combe and Prescott fill the rest of the weekend

Pace notes: Castle Combe runs its third DAE stage rally over two days on 7 and 8 November, with nine stages of roughly 50 miles on the circuit and its perimeter roads and a field capped at 90 cars. Prescott’s rally hill climb fills the Saturday, with timed runs in daylight and a second set after dark.

Splits:

• Saturday’s four stages at Castle Combe begin at 12:31, each around 5.5 miles, and the Formula 1000 Junior field leads the way.
• Sunday adds five stages from 08:45, and the first car is due to finish from 15:20.
• The circuit’s 30 September preview puts only Saturday’s closing stage in darkness, while its 1 October guide says two stages run that way, and the two accounts of the same weekend do not agree.
• Five championships score points there: the ASWMC and ACSMC series, the TCS Plant Rally Challenge, the Celtic Micra Championship and the F1000 Junior Championship.
• Rallye Prescott runs from 10:00 to 19:30 at the Gloucestershire hill, a hill climb built around rally cars rather than a stage rally.
• The night before, the clubhouse hosts a forum with Nicky Grist, the 1993 world champion co-driver who took 21 WRC victories, most of them alongside Colin McRae, joined by three-time British champion Matt Edwards.

The road ahead: Castle Combe keeps its paddock as the service area and viewing areas around the circuit, while Prescott’s last runs come after dark. Our event page carries the championship list for the two-day rally, and Rallye Prescott’s page holds the forum detail.

Four marshalling clubs, and a free way in

Pace notes: Motorsport UK has set out the specialist clubs that recruit and train volunteer marshals, from an organisation founded in Birmingham in 1957 to one built around recovery work. Registration costs nothing, and the governing body lists a three-step route from an online course to a first event.

Splits:

• The British Motorsports Marshals Club, set up in 1957, is the oldest club of its kind in the UK, with training and grading across circuit racing, rallying, sprints and hill climbs.
• The British Rally Marshals Club, founded in 1980, coordinates volunteering in seven regions and covers road and forest stage rallies, including stage commanders, radio crews, timekeeping and senior official roles.
• The Scottish Motorsport Marshals Club fields safety radio crews, plus rescue, extrication and medical teams, with the World Rally Championship heading back to Scotland.
• AMRO, formed in 1995, represents recovery operators and admits Motorsport UK Recovery Licence holders, trainees included.
• The route in runs through an account, the online Registered Marshal Accreditation Course and then a club to volunteer with.

The road ahead: A stage rally of the kind at Oulton Park and Castle Combe needs radio and stage crews before it needs anything else, and local motor clubs take volunteers directly throughout the season.

The BRC title fight, retold from round one

Pace notes: The Rally Wire season review has started with the two rounds that opened the British Rally Championship, when Osian Pryce and Max McRae won one apiece and Meirion Evans finished second at both. The first part carries the fight from the Severn Valley Stages to the Jim Clark Rally, with one round already missing from the calendar.

Splits:

• Pryce and James Morgan won the Severn Valley Stages by 19 seconds, taking five of the seven stages in the Castrol MEM Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
• McRae and Cameron Fair answered at the Jim Clark Rally, where he was seven seconds quicker than Evans on the second Bothwell run after dark.
• Pryce lost around 27 seconds with an overshoot on Saturday’s opening loop and finished third.
• The Kielder Carlisle Stages, due to run on 5 and 6 June, was cancelled on 15 May after too few crews entered.
• The drivers’ table finished with McRae first, Evans second and Pryce third.

The road ahead: Part one stops after two rounds, leaving the Grampian Forest, Rali Ceredigion and the Cambrian for the rest of the review. The Cambrian preview follows the title decider.

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Next on the stages

• 7 November — Salford Van Hire Neil Howard Stages 2026 — Protyre Circuit Rally Championship opener, ANWCC and SD34
• 7 November — Rallye Prescott 2026 — Rally Car Speed Championship
• 7–8 November — DAE Castle Combe Circuit Stage Rally 2026 — ASWMC, ACSMC, TCS Plant, Celtic Micra and F1000 Junior championships
• 14 November — Wyedean Stages Rally 2026 — English Rally Championship, Pirelli Welsh, HRCR Stage Masters and ANWCC
• 14–15 November — The Challenger Stages 2026 — BDCC Stage Rally Championship