9 August 2025 / By DAVID FERGUSON
IRISH eyes were smiling once again in the British Rally Championship when William Creighton and Liam Regan claimed victory in the Voly Grampian Forest Rally.
The duo are hard to catch in their Toyota Yaris Rally2 and the former FIA Junior WRC champions led the field over five of the dry and dusty ten stages to land a second Probite British Rally Championship victory of the season and move top of the standings.
They led after winning Friday night’s two stages and, after increasing their lead with two more stages on Saturday morning, came home 30 seconds clear of Max McRae and Cammy Fair with his teammates Meirion Evans and Dale Furniss keeping up their British fight with third.
“It feels amazing!” Creighton told BRC media at the finish.
“We put a lot of preparation into this rally beforehand, working on the videos, with the car and my driving to get the most out of this weekend and to get the result, it makes it all worthwhile, so I’m delighted.
“We have worked so hard, it’s fantastic to get good points for the championship, so super, super pleased! This year went a lot better than last year. I guess we learned from last year and tried to right those wrongs. I think we’ve done well, and it’s great to achieve what we have.”
Second place represented a maiden BRC podium place for McRae, competing close to his Banchory home in a Citroën C3 Rally2, and came with a determined effort on Saturday where he surpassed Evan’s times to move from third into the runner-up spot.
For Borders boy, Garry Pearson, the rally proved to be one of tough luck. He and Hannah McKillop were on the pace on Friday, before a puncture on Saturday morning saw them slip down the pecking order, but a superb effort from the M-Sport man through the remaining stages brought them back into a fine fourth by the finish.
Callum Black and Jack Morton were another impressive pair on Callum’s Grampian debut. An overshoot derailed their fine start but they still came home in fifth in their Fiesta Rally2.
Jonny Greer and Niall Burns edged out Welsh champions Matthew Hirst and Decland Dear for seventh and Robert Proudlock and Harry Marchbank showed their quality in the BRC3 Ford Fiesta Rally3 when things go relatively smoothly, outsmarting some bigger engines to take 13th overall and a class win.
Two rounds remain as the BRC enters the business end of the season, the cars returning to asphalt in the JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion on 5-7 September and the forest for the 70th Lewis & Hunter Cambrian Rally back in Llandudno on 25 October, and while Creighton’s pace is hot the battle for the BRC crown is far from over and podium places and class titles remain very much up for grabs.