Rally Archive
Cambrian Road Rally
Sponsored by Edwards Buildings
Tregaron & District Motor Club
24th/25th January 2026
Winners: Stefan 'DR' Davies/Kieran Price (Ford Escort)
Photograph: © Joseph John Gilbertson
Organiser: Tregaron & District Motor Club
Date: 24th/25th January 2026
Clerk of the Course: Dafydd Jones
Route: 110 Miles + 1 Test (Maps 135 & 146)
Base: Pontrhydfendigaid
Starters: 68
The Cambrian Road Rally provided a suitably tough start to the 2026 Welsh Road Rally Championship, with a demanding route coupled with atrociously wet weather. Even the winners dropped time at ten controls, in addition to the single test that opened proceedings.
The event, as usual, was based the Pantyfedwen Pavillion at Pontrhydfendigaid, and, again as usual, started with a test at the nearby Mid Wales Activity Centre. The farm on which the latter stands is now up for sale; the 395 acre farm, including the track, is on the market for £3.5m.
Sixty-eight crews were signed on and almost immediately undertook the test, before returning to the Pavillion for a one and three-quarter hour gap in which to plot the 110 mile road sections.
The centre of Storm Ingrid was passing over the area as cars lined up for the test, this produced heavy lashing rain, which was to persist throughout the first half of the rally; this led to extremely slippery conditions throughout.
It wasn't surprising therefore that even the fastest times for the test were 20 seconds slower than the previous year; no one beat the five minute mark. Andy Davies/Huw Rowcliffe (Subaru Impreza) were quickest over the two miles of treacherous tarmac; they were six seconds faster than Gareth Wyn Jones/Ryan Griffiths (Ford Escort), who led a gaggle of pursuers only seconds behind.
There was a notable casualty of the test - the Escort of Richard Jerman/Alan James suffered a broken distributor ignitor after just 500 yards. They managed to complete the test but took 26 minutes to do so and were well over their ten minute time limit at the Main Control back at the Pavillion after the test.
The opening road section was in the vicinity of Llanafan Forest, where after a straightforward easily cleanable run to the first TC, crews plunged into a series of tracks in Trawsgoed. The first four cars obviously had easier going as all dropped one minute at TC4, those behind found the going getting tougher with everyone behind being at least two minutes late at the control. After around half the field had been through, given the wet conditions, the inevitable happened and a car got stuck, blocking the route for the remainder of the field.
Cars from the mid-thirties onwards were directed around via Abermagwr to TC4, which was located at the Trawscoed Bridge. This meant that most arrived at the time control well within their target, causing an inversion in penalties, with later crews getting smaller penalties than the leaders. The regulations allowed for nominal times to be issued in the event of a blockage, so it was decided that all cars after the snarl up would get a penalty of two minutes at TC4.
The section finished with a tight five-minuter at SF5, which was at Pantyddafad; everyone dropped time here. At that point the first four cars, thanks to their minute advantage at TC4, held the top four places, with Davies/Rowcliffe now 12 seconds ahead of Stefan 'DR' Davies/Kieran Price (Ford Escort).
Car 6, Lewis Morgan/Marc Hughes (Ford Escort), had been another crew to get stuck in Trawscoed and withdrew after losing time.
A non-comp then took the route through Lledrod, before the next section started just north-west of the village and ran via Llangwyryfon to the coast road at Glenrhos. The only part that caused the leaders to drop time was from TC7 to TC8, which was from Cwmclyd to Argoed. This caused a major shake up in the lead positions. George Williams/Cadog Davies (Ford Escort) were quickest to TC8 and this moved them from third place to first, with reigning Welsh Champions, Arwel Hughes Jones/Dylan John Williams now in second place, 14 seconds off the lead. Davies/Rowcliffe were almost a minute slower than Williams/Davies to TC8 and fell to fourth behind Davies/Price.
The final section before Petrol used the twisty lanes inshore of Llanrhystud and Llanon, including the 'Wooden Bridge'. Six time controls on the section caused leading cars to lose time.
By TC14, which was located at Fferm Tynbeili, Williams/Davies had increased their lead to 18 seconds, while there had been another reshuffle of the places behind them with Davies/Price moving into second, with Davies/Rowcliffe in third, in front of Hughes Jones/Williams. Twenty-seven seconds covered these four leading crews.
However, there was about to be a major shake up of positions. Firstly, Davies/Rowcliffe failed to record a code board correctly and were issued with a fail. They withdrew at Petrol when the penalty was made known to them. Then the Escort of the leaders cut out and wouldn't restart. The crew were unable to locate the source of the problem and they were out.
This meant that Davies/Price and Hughes Jones/Williams were left to fight for the win over the remainder of the rally. At Petrol, which was taken at Aberaeron, the former crew held a lead of 17 seconds over the North Walians. They, in turn, were a minute ahead of Jones/Griffiths, who held a lonely third place, over a minute in front of fourth placed Osian Jones/Llyr Davies (Nissan Micra), who the leading Experts.
The leading Semi-Expert crew at the midway halt were Craig Harries/Jamie Clifford-Jones (Mazda MX5), who were just ahead of second in class Callum James/Aled James (Peugeot 306). Harries/Clifford-Jones pulled away in the second half and came home to take the category win by a minute and a half.
After the opening test Osian Savinelli/Iolo Clement (Ford Escort) had considered withdrawing as they had swiped and dented the rear end of their car, however they continued and at Petrol headed the Novice Class by a minute. They maintained this advantage through the remainder of the rally to secure the class win at the Finish.
For most of the field the opening section of the second half, which circled Cilcennin, didn't cause any loss of time. It wasn't until the lanes and tracks from Olmarch to Llanfair Clydogau that penalties were added to the leaders' totals. Here Davies/Price extended their lead, but only by four seconds over Hughes Jones/Williams, while they pulled further away from Jones/Griffiths, who dropped over a minute.
The battle for fourth place was the closest contest at the top of the field, with Zak Hughes/Jamie Mills (Peugeot 206) emerging in front of Jones/Davies, but the two crews were only six seconds apart, while Howard Price/Carl Williamson (Ford Escort) were six seconds further back.
At TC30, which the top three cleaned, fourth place changed again with Jones/Davies moving back ahead of Hughes/Mills, with Price/Williamson still in close contention.
The final time control saw everyone lose time, with Davies/Price extending their lead by a further six seconds, meaning that they came home with a 27 second victory margin over Hughes Jones/Williams. Jones/Griffiths were two minutes behind to take the final podium position. Jones/Davies held on to fourth place, but ended just two seconds ahead of Hughes/Mills.
This meant that Jones/Davies, in their little Micra, repeated their fourth overall result from the previous weekend's Showground Stages, also they won the Expert Class by over five minutes.
RESULTS
- Overall Positions
- Award Winners
- Class Positions
- Time Penalty Details
- Fail Penalties
- Overall Positions after Test 1
- Overall Positions at Petrol
- Non-Finishers
- List of Starters