Iain Tullie, Motorsport UK Rallies Executive and former M-Sport Manager will be on the front line of the Nicky Grist Stages on 9 July as co-driver for Tony Jardine in the NET-HERO Historic Hillman Avenger.  

As the winner of major regularity rallies such as the RAC Rally of the Tests and achieving gold medal status on the arduous LeJog Reliability Trial, Tullie will be using his combined experience from the World Rally Championship, his navigational skills and more recent Motorsport UK work, to help guide the NET-HERO carbon offset team Avenger through 45 miles of stages. The team will run over some of the best gravel stages in the UK in the Halfway and Crychan forest complex of the Epynt Military Ranges.  

Iain’s rally career has spanned both disciplines, finishing second on the recent White Rose Classic Rally in May, but last competed on a stage rally in 2016.  

Tullie commented, “It’s great to be back competing on a stage event again, thanks to Tony for the invite. I last competed in the BHRC in 2016 alongside Steve Bennett, so I’m looking forward to returning to the classic Welsh stages. I’ve been attending events regularly since I started the role at Motorsport UK, this will be a good opportunity to sample a round of the British Rally Championship from a competitor’s perspective.  

“Both the team and the events work on sustainability schemes is commendable, there are opportunities for all of us on events to reduce our Carbon emissions and create a more sustainable sport, one of the key challenges we are currently working on at Motorsport UK.”  

Iain will codrive experienced amateur driver Tony Jardine in the NET-HERO Hillman Avenger now prepared by Geoff Jones Motorsport using a Chrysler 1600 GT engine just rebuilt by Ivor Clark.   

It will be a festival of rallying as the Nicky Grist Stages will host a round of the prestigious British Rally Championship for the fourth time, the BTRDA Gold and Silver Star Championships plus the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Forest Rally Championship. With the addition of the BTRDA Historic Cup, the HRCR Stage Masters, IPS Paints Rally Challenge, 1400 Rally Championship and the ANWCC Forest Stage Championship, the event has produced a healthy, if eclectic array of 165 rally cars on the entry list.  

Amongst the top competitors in the Nicky Grist/Quinton Stages round of the Motorsport UK British Rally Championship will be the recent Goodwood Festival of Speed Forest Rally Stage winners Ruari Bell and Max Freeman. They will face the might of championship protagonists Osian Pryce and Noel O’ Sullivan and Jim Clark Rally victors and championship leaders Keith Cronin and Mikie Glavin, who are already multi BRC title winners.  

Tony Jardine and Iain Tullie will be competing in the HRCR Stage Masters Challenge for Historic cars in their 1973 NET-HERO 1600 GT Hillman Avenger, hoping for a top ten finish in the highly competitive H2 Class for 1600 cc Historic rally cars.