East Riding Stages Rally 2026

For the second year running, my usual first motorsport outing of the season failed to happen. Last year’s planned visit to the Riponian Rally 2025 had to be abandoned when thick fog descended on my journey to the North Yorkshire forests, forcing me to turn back. This year it was a bout of flu that prevented me from heading to the “woods” north of Pickering.

Fortunately, having just about recovered last weekend, I was able to make the short journey over the Humber Bridge into East Yorkshire to take in the East Riding Stages Rally. Since its debut in 2022, the event has built a reputation for fast, technical and challenging stages.

The compact nature of the event — covering a small and easily accessible geographic area — combined with improving weather on Sunday, attracted impressive crowds throughout the weekend.

New Route

This year’s East Riding Stages Rally formed the opening round of the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship 2026 and introduced a revised route to test competitors’ skills.

Proceedings began on Saturday evening with a ceremonial start in the market town of Beverley. The opening leg featured three demanding tests: a new version of the spectator-friendly Westwood stage on the outskirts of town (run twice), alongside the all-new Little Wold and Great Wold stages west of Hull. For the first time, this meant competitive stages running in darkness.

On Sunday morning, when I headed out with my camera, the action centred on four newly named stages — Seaton, Rise, Ellerby and Swine — north east of Hull around the small town of Skirlaugh. Crews then returned to Westwood (run twice) before repeating the earlier loop, making a total of 14 special stages and over 70 competitive miles across the weekend.

Schoolboy Error

I initially planned to return to a location on the outskirts of the village of Swine (Stage 8), which I had used before and could easily reach with a short walk from Coniston. On arrival at what is normally an excellent viewing point, offering multiple vantage spots for varied shots. I soon realised I had made a schoolboy error — I hadn’t checked the detailed stage maps.

The stage was running in the opposite direction to previous years. As a result, there were very few clear angles available without red and white safety tape intruding into the viewfinder. Accepting defeat, I headed several miles north to the short 3.37-mile Rise Stage (Stage 12).

Accessed via a short walk from the village of Great Hatfield. Rise Stage runs was running in its traditional direction and opens out into a wide, windswept section beyond the flying finish. The second half of the test features a variety of bends. Ideal for a spectator photographer to capture committed driving. Most of my photographs in this report were taken at this location.

Tricky Conditions

Heavy overnight rain had already disrupted competitors running in darkness on Saturday, and fresh early morning showers made conditions extremely slippery. Water slicked the predominantly single-track tarmac lanes, turning them treacherous, yet crews stayed fully committed and pushed speeds well beyond 130mph on the faster sections.

Blustery winds added another layer of difficulty, making it a battle to control a telephoto zoom lens. The open, flat landscape — dotted with numerous wind farms — offered almost no shelter, exposing everyone to the full force of the elements.

East Riding Stages Rally 2026 Results

Carrying strong momentum throughout the weekend were reigning UK Asphalt Champions Sam Touzel and Max Freeman in their brand-new, latest-spec M-Sport-prepared Ford Fiesta Rally2. Collected only days earlier from the team’s Cumbrian headquarters. They led for much of the event and ultimately secured victory.

Second home were the non-registered pairing of James Ford and Neil Shanks in their Citroën C3 Rally2. Gravel specialists Matthew Hirst — who lives less than thirty minutes from the opening stage — and Declan Dear, the 2025 BTRDA champions, claimed championship runner-up points in their Škoda Fabia Rally2. A good result as they rarely venture onto the asphalt.

Third in the championship standings (fourth overall) went to Lee Edwards and Sam Spencer. Their performance in a rear-wheel-drive, V6-powered Ford Escort G3 was nothing short of remarkable given the greasy conditions. It was surely one of the drives of the rally, outperforming numerous high-spec modern four-wheel-drive machines.

East Riding Stages Rally 2026

Despite the frustration of my early photographic miscalculation, entirely self-inflicted through lack of pre-event research, I thoroughly enjoyed the day exploring the flat expanses of the East Riding.

It proved a bracing and refreshing experience — just what was needed to clear the remnants of “man-flu”. I’m sure I’ll be back in 2027 — and next time, I’ll make sure to check the route before setting off.

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PistonClick

Thanks to David Gowshall of DEEGEE Motorsport Photography for the report and images. Also Ryan Kendall of R2M for additional photographs from the East Riding Stages Rally 2026. More information about the photographers on this assignment can be found below.