Rally Archive
Barcud Road Rally
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Barcud Motor Club
11th/12th July 2026
Winners: Lewis Morgan/Marc Hughes (Ford Escort)
Photograph: © Adrian Convery Photography
Organiser: Barcud Motor Club
Date: 11th/12th July 2026
Clerk of the Course: Rhydian Ebenezer
Route: 80 Miles (Maps 135 & 146)
Base: Tregaron
Starters: 71
Round Six of the Welsh Road Rally Championship was the Tregaron based Barcud Rally. In 2026 it had dispensed with the tests that had opened proceedings on a number of previous occasions and instead provided a straightforward 80 mile route, with no fuel halt. The overgrown hedgerows would make spotting slots and code boards demanding, while the third heatwave of the summer made for dusty conditions, despite the almost entirely tarmac route.
A significant number of late withdrawals meant that 71 cars took the start. After almost 90 minutes of plotting time, the field took a lengthy run out past Ystradmeurig to TC1N, to the south of Tynygraig. The first two TCs were timed to the minute and almost the entire field arrived on time at both.
The run from TC3M to TC4S, at the end of the section, after PC5 in a field at Blaen-yr-esgair, caught all. Lewis Morgan/Marc Hughes (Ford Escort) were quickest by eight seconds here, with Richard 'Ty Capel' Williams/Dion Lewis (Ford Escort) and Stefan 'DR' Davies/Kieran Price (Ford Escort) sharing second best times. Davies/Price didn't get much further before a steering arm broke and they were out. Another early retirement was the Subaru Impreza of Emyr Jones/Tomos Shakespeare who withdrew at TC4S.
After a Neutral through Bronant there was a four minute section past Tynreithyn. Morgan/Hughes and Gareth Edwards/Dafydd Evans (Ford Escort) shared the best time to TC6S and this put Edwards/Evans into second place, 13 seconds off the lead. Williams/Lewis now shared third place with George Williams/Cadog Davies (Ford Escort), a further ten second further back.
The next dropper came after a tight section through Trefenter. Morgan/Hughes maintained their pace and were quickest again to TC8S. Edwards/Evans kept up their challenge, second fastest to the control, but eight seconds slower than the leaders. Soon after this Telor Pugh/Philip Dancer (Seat Ibiza) joined the retirement list.
The final section before the mid-point regroup was another four minuter, this one was in the lanes immediately south of Penuwch. Williams/Davies were best here, being the only ones to arrive at TC12S on time; this put them into third place. Lewis/Morgan dropped four seconds; they now held a lead of 19 seconds, as Edwards/Evans had pulled back two seconds on them.
Max Hughes/Trystan Leyshon (Peugeot 206) had had a character building first half, firstly experiencing a total electrical failure and then a puncture just after Trefenter. They withdrew at the halfway halt. Also out at that spot were Paul Tod/David 'Garth' Powell, their Peugeot 306 had split its fuel tank.
The route moved south for the restart, with TC13N being near Llandainfach. It was the beginning of a 16 miles run before the next Neutral, with six TCs before Betws Bledrws. For the leading runners only the final four minuter from TC18S, at Silian, and TC19s caused any time loss.
One of the few front runners to drop time at TC15S, at Rhiwonnen, were Williams/Lewis, who were nine seconds late there; this became immaterial shortly afterwards when their Escort was stopped by a failed gearbox. Ninth placed Richard Jerman/Alan James were one of the crews to clean the whole section up to TC18S, but then had the clutch fail on their Escort.
Arwel Hughes-Jones/Dylan John Williams (Ford Escort) were in with a chance of breaking a record on the Barcud; they had won the last four Welsh Championship rounds; a fifth victory would have made them the first crew to achieve this run of success. However, they had had a miserable first half, overshooting slots and code boards and were only in eighth place. They got their act together in the second half and were fastest to TC19S, but were still over a minute and a half off the lead.
Behind them, Williams/Davies, were second quickest, and closed the gap to second placed Edwards/Evans to seven seconds. In turn, Edwards/Evans took time out of Morgan/Hughes to the control and were now 13 seconds off the lead.
A four minuter from Maesyforest to Gogoyan saw everyone lose time. Williams/Davies were fastest and moved past both Edwards/Evans and Morgan/Hughes to take the lead, although they were now only a second ahead of second place.
Their charge continued on the next section, the run from TC22N to TC23S had a target of four minutes and used the lanes to the east of Llanfair Clydogau. Williams/Davies were quickest on 38 seconds and were now 14 seconds in front of the field, with Morgan/Hughes six seconds ahead of Edwards/Evans. Zak Hughes/Jamie Mills (Peugeot 206) headed the rest, 15 seconds off third place.
Top seeds and 2025 Barcud winners, Arwyn Jones/Mathew Pryce (Ford Escort) were in fifth at this point, but then on the next section missed a code board, adding five minutes to their total. Things got worse for them shortly afterwards when they booked in almost two minutes early at TC26S, this should have added more time to their penalties, but as they hadn't dropped more than a minute since the halfway re-group they were now running ahead of scheduled time, that is ahead of the Car 0 time, the penalty was therefore a fail.
A loop that almost went as far as Ffarmers, and which contained three further time controls, was cleaned by the front runners and the battle for the lead was to be determined on the final five minute section from TC26S to TC27S.
Morgan/Hughes were fastest, 19 seconds faster than Williams/Davies, retaking the lead at the finishing line with a victory margin of five seconds. Hughes/Mills were second quickest to TC27S and this moved them ahead of Edwards/Evans for third place. After a couple more troubled sections, Hughes-Jones/Williams came home in fifth place, a result means that, with three rounds remaining, the pair are almost within grasp of their third Welsh Championship win.
The Expert Class was won by Gerallt Williams/Osian Richards (Ford Escort) finishing in eighth place overall, two places ahead of class rivals Arfon Jones/Chris Hill (Subaru Impreza). Lucas Adams/Aled James (Vauxhall Chevette) were the clear winners of the Semi-Expert Class, ending the rally in sixth place overall. The leading Novices were Kevin Regan/Jason Thomas (Nissan Micra) who finished four minutes ahead of their nearest category challengers.
RESULTS
- Overall Positions
- Award Winners
- Class Positions
- Time Penalty Details
- Fail Penalties
- Overall Positions at Petrol
- Non-Finishers
- List of Starters