I’ve had a busy start to the year, having just completed my ninth rally of 2023!
After an accident at last year’s Galloway Hills Rally, my car ‘ JIG’ is still out of action so I’ve been busy in the co-driver’s seat as well as competing in my first rally abroad as a driver in a Peugeot 208 Rally4.
I competed in Rallye de Grasse in the south of France, near Nice, with my regular co-driver Martin Haggett. It’s a project that’s been in the making for three years as I started talking to the team, Racing Solutions, just prior to covid.
It was my first time competing abroad, first time in a Rally4 car and only my second rally driving a left-hand drive car, so I had a lot to learn!
I had an eventful journey out to France, with my flight from London Heathrow cancelled at the last minute and a quick taxi ride to Gatwick to catch the only other flight which would get me there in time for recce!
We started off with a two-day recce, which is where we drive the stages in a road car within the speed limit, to make our pacenotes to use on the event. It was great to get a feel for the roads and adapt to being in a left-hand drive car.
It was my first time making pacenotes from scratch, as for our UK events we can buy pacenotes and a video from a notes supplier prior to the event and just make amends as we require, so it was a steep learning curve.
In the hotseat with British Rally champion
We then visited the team for a seat fitting in the rally car, a Peugeot 208 Rally4, ahead of a test day in the car.
Matt Edwards, three time British Rally Champion and fellow Carbon Positive Motorsport ambassador, came over for the test day which was a massive help as I got used to the new car.
Matt advised me on driving technique and car set up, as well as going through my pacenotes with me and advising on some changes.
Driving the legendary Rallye Monte Carlo stage Col de Bleine
The rally took place over two days, with three stages on the Friday afternoon and a full day’s rallying on the Saturday. We had a cautious start to stage 1, then picked up the pace on stage 2 which I was really pleased with.
On Saturday the stages included the legendary Rallye Monte Carlo stage Col de Bleine which was an incredible and very surreal experience!
I then flew back late on the Saturday night to compete at Cadwell Park on the Sunday co-driving for Ollie O’Donovan so it was a busy weekend!
The whole week was amazing – the roads and car were very different to what I’m used to so I learnt a lot and I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity.
Thank you to the team, Racing Solutions, for making it such an enjoyable experience, to Martin, and to my sponsors Morris Lubricants, Carbon Positive Motorsport and Demon Tweeks for their continued support.
Co-driving in the Circuit Rally Championship
I recently finished competing in the Circuit Rally Championship, a winter rally series which takes place at circuits across the UK. I was co-driving for Irish Rallycross driver Ollie O’Donovan in a Hyundai i20 R5.
We missed the first round at Oulton Park but were able to use that as a dropped score and had a strong season with four overall podiums out of the seven rallies we competed in.
We were delighted to finish the season at Anglesey with another podium earlier this month which secured us second overall in the final championship standings. It was fantastic to be able to take part in this series over the winter with Ollie while my own car was out of action and I learnt a lot from sitting in with Ollie.
TV coverage of the Speyside Stages
With ‘JIG’ not ready yet I missed out on the recent Speyside Stages, the second round of this year’s Scottish Rally Championship. I was delighted to be asked by BeckSport to attend to assist with their TV coverage of the rally.
The event was celebrating its 25th anniversary and to mark the occasion the event started on the Friday evening with two short gravel stages in the dark, before the usual full day of competition on the Saturday, including the famous Cooper Park spectator stage.
It was great to get back along to an SRC event and catch up with other competitors. I have entries for both Jim Clark rallies at the end of May so I’m looking forward to getting back out in the driving seat myself soon.
You can keep up to date with my rallying on my website and social media channels:
- ashleighmorris.com
- Facebook/LinkedIn/YouTube @ Ashleigh Morris Rallying
- Instagram/Twitter @ashleigh_morris
- TikTok @ashleighmorrisrally
Ashleigh Morris teams up with Becksport for Speyside Stages https://t.co/aaSwefUvhv | @Ashleigh_Morris | #BeckSport Media | #TheMcDonaldandMunroSpeysideStages | @SRC_Rally
— Carbon Positive Motorsport (@CarbonPositive4) April 20, 2023
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