THE 42nd Jersey Rally lights up Island roads this Friday and Saturday with a bumper 90 car entry and many former winners and champions. Leading away the Roberts Garages sponsored event, will be 2024 winners and 2025 National Asphalt Champions, Sam Touzel and Max Freeman, in their current 4WD Fiesta Rally2.
Top 10 Seeds
Hot on their heels, the top 10 seeds include several former Jersey Rally winners, a former Junior National rally champion and English rally winners – expect close competition as they all tackle some 90 miles of closed road competition.
Ross Le Noa and Domonic Volante bring their powerful 2.5 normally aspirated Ford Escort to Jersey after winning both the 2025 Guernsey Rally and the summer L’Etacq Rally, the pair are former winners with plenty of experience.
Third seeds are the popular Stevie Leonard with Ben Andre in the 2 litre Escort with which Leonard had several Jersey Rally wins over the years. 4wd turbo power is the choice for Darryl Morris and Steve Gully. Since acquiring the Skoda R5 and rallying in Barbados, Morris has had some success across both Islands (4th Guernsey Rally 2025) and will be seeking a great result in the European spec car.
Close behind them are the popular Portuguese Jersey pairing of Dave Oliveira and Victor Nobrega (the latter also a stage sponsor), who are always in the running in their 2.5 Escort.
Two more of our 4WD crews feature in the top 10. Jersey born Ed Fossey with Guernseyman Will Rutherford co-driving had a brilliant result on the Welsh Mewla Rally in August – 7th overall amongst top competition following 3rd overall in the Guernsey Rally. A former National Asphalt Junior champion, seeded at 6, his grandfather’s race number. the Proton Satria Millington was originally designed for the highest level of rallying in 2008, now with Millington power it is still a major contender against younger cars.
Top seeded English crew, Roger and Tommi Henderson, return to Jersey with their 4wD Fiesta Rally2 after a successful English season, including their first overall victory at the Cornish TSH Stages. They have good knowledge of Jersey coupled with great experience.
They are followed over the start ramp at the RJAHS by former winner Jeremy Baudains – loyal to Ford Escorts for his rally career, co-driven this year by Welsh lady Rhiannon Sim. They achieved a great result on their first event together in Wales in August and will be looking to beat their seeding.
Guernsey’s Paul Trebert has recently made a great return to his rallying at top Island level in his Mk II Escort – and this year he calls on Jersey knowledge with experienced Jersey motocross star, Kieran Gregory, guiding him through the lanes. Gregory has good experience with several top drivers.
Ones to Watch
Ones to watch amongst the field? Well look out for Jersey son and father team of former winner Dean Le Bailly, who takes to the co-driver seat this year to guide son Ollie Le Bailly, competing in his first Jersey Rally in the 2 litre Mk II Escort. A good 7th overall at L’Etacq and some impressive hillclimb times justify their seeding at 24.
Guernsey team Craig Robert and Chris Guille in their 2.4 ltr Escort – graduating from a Honda Civic, proved at the Guernsey Rally that they had arrived. Finishing 2nd overall with several stage wins certainly demonstrated their ability and confirmed their Jersey seeding at 27.
Rounding out the top 10, the 1400cc Corsa of Simon Hunter and Howard Pridmore. Don’t be deceived by the diminutive engine size – this team is a former national asphalt class championship winning crew and the Corsa is ultra rapid on our stages, where Hunter has also co-driven. Expect a great show from these two and a good overall result, although it will be interesting to see how fellow classmates Paul Vibert and Nick Le Masurier (seeded at 33) fare in their evocative Escort – now with similar Vauxhall power.
Up to 1400cc
The up to 1400cc Class features 9 entries and a wide variety of marques for enthusiasts to enjoy. Watch out for the “traditional” Mini’s of Kevin Shales and Steve A’Hearne (seed 54), and two visiting teams – Kevin Blackford and Andy Pecover (Leyland Mini 1275GT) at seed 84 and Kevin Richardson and Katrin Herold (seed 91) – last in running order on Friday but by no means least.
Other unusual cars in this class include two MG ZR’ and the Nissan Micra of Sam Simon and Max Brochet (seeded at 77 and still having an engine transplant in the week of the Rally). The Ford Puma of Tom Wagstaff and Sam Thompson makes up seed 90.
1400cc – 1600cc
Jack Hinton and Conor Carre have dominated the 1400cc to 1600 cc class for some time – with the well engineered Nova. Seeded at 20, the Nova has undergone comprehensive work in the lead up to the event where the nearest challengers could well be English team Andy Corner and Ade Campo. Regular Visitors to Jersey this year they pilot the Fiesta R200, rather than the Peugeot 205 with which they won many FWD2 awards.
Silverstone Rally School’s Mike Stanley with British Rally National Codriver Champion, Izzie Holman, fulfil their bucket list with the Peugeot 205 and we all hope they have success.
1600cc – 2000cc
35 teams take to the line in the 1600cc to 2000cc category – led away by Stevie Leonard and Ben Andre. Outside the top 10, Steve Ellis and Jamie Vaughan return at 12, Vaughan flying into the Island after duties on the European Rally Championship in Croatia.
Top Welsh team John Morgan and Llinos Jones- Edwards are campaigning their exciting Suzuki Swift F2000 – Morgan’s return to front wheel drive after 26 years. It’s been a race against time to rebuild the engine in time to catch the ferry so hope all the effort is rewarded.
Stage Sponsor, Mark Syvret and Chris Fox, one of the most established rally crews on the event, will certainly draw attention with their immaculate historic Escort.
Next in class are the ultra rapid team of Guernseymen Fraser Torode and George Symons – Torode is a skilled pilot of his self built Peugeot 205.
Over 2 Litres
Next up, the class for over 2 litre cars features 28 crews – Ford Escorts are the most popular marque but BMW numbers are also significant. With three crews in the top 10, Richard Manning with new codriver Matt Vautier, is next away in his “Mk I” Escort and seasoned campaigner Rob de Ste Paer and Jolie Mars seed at 15 and BMW experts John Le Brun and Tim Hamon next in the Honda powered variant. Watch out for the two Triumph TR8’s in this class (seeded 38 and 40) – the V8 engines not to be missed!
Outside the top 10, the remaining four 4WD crews are all in Subaru Impreza’s – listen out for the distinctive boxer engines of these 2 litre turbo monsters. English regulars Jim Munden and John Leigh return to do battle with the popular Neil Cotillard and David Jardine, Grant Collins and Ryan Cummins – just back from an engine mapping trip to UK and Matthew Pinel and James Rondel.
Weekend’s running order
The JMC&LCC organisers have certainly organized an amazing motorsport weekend for enthusiasts and spectators alike, with many visitors travelling to Jersey to enjoy the Island and the largest rally event held here.
First opportunity to see the teams will be at the Rally HQ at RJA&HS on Thursday afternoon and evening. Scrutineering and safety checks start at 5pm with catering available and also the change to purchase tickets in the Les Amis Charity Raffle.
On Friday, the Rally Village opens Friday morning with teams preparing for the Ceremonial Start from RJA&HS at 12.00. Title Sponsor, Roberts Garages, feature on the St Martin stage which is paired with the Sign Solutions Trinity Stage. After supper break, the action will move to the exciting night stages in the west of the Island – Elite DPF St Brelade and 4Group Rossignol, with the first car due just after 6pm.
After overnight reseeding, it will be exciting to see the order for the crews arriving at the SGB Frontiere Stage, coupled with the AAL Recycling Waterworks stage for Saturday morning. After lunch break, the final stages run through Romerils Lawrence and the AAA Tree Services North stage – taking in the exciting challenges of the new North Road. Saturday will end with celebrations at the Ceremonial Finish back at the RJA&HS.
The JMC&LCC wishes to thank all the authorities and all the volunteers for their support and assistance with this premier motorsport event, which takes some 12 months to plan and prepare. They would also like to extend their thanks to all landowners and householders for giving their consent.
The Roberts Garages Jersey Rally will be raising funds for the motorsport Environmental Fund – partnering with Trees for Life Jersey and others to help achieve environmental goals sustainably.
