Creighton leads four-car academy entry for BRC's East Riding opener
Four Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy crews will kickstart their British Rally Championship campaigns on Sunday’s East Riding Stages Rally. William Creighton is one of the pre-event favourites for overall honours while Keelan Grogan, Kyle McBride, and Craig Rahill face off in Junior BRC’s Rally4 category.
Creighton and his long-term co-driver Liam Regan will make their Toyota Yaris Rally2 debut on round one of this year’s six-round British Rally Championship. The 2024 BRC runners-up have stepped into the MEM Castrol Rally Team alongside Welsh driver Meirion Evans.
Seeded third for the East Riding Stages Rally, Creighton will be hoping for a strong start to his latest title bid against top drivers like four-time British Champion Keith Cronin, Junior World Rally Champion Romet Jurgenson, and Motorsport UK Asphalt Champion Callum Black.
“It is a new car, new team, and new event for us this weekend,” the 27-year-old described.
“Both Liam and I are really looking forward to the challenge and starting the BRC season in the MEM Castrol Yaris Rally2.
“I think the event will offer quite tricky conditions, so it’s important we work on getting a comfortable feeling with the car and build from there.
“We have been focussing on improving our pacenotes and staying fit so that we are well prepared for the first event of this season - a big thanks to the MI Rally Academy and all my other supporters for working with me over the last few months to get this programme in place, now it’s time to get started.”
Creighton must find the perfect balance between getting familiarised with his new Rally2 car and maintaining the front-end pace he set in the BRC last year. That challenge is magnified by the short nature of the 88-kilometre asphalt event held over a single day.
Fellow MI Rally Academy athletes Keelan Grogan, Kyle McBride, and Craig Rahill start their Junior BRC campaigns in a trio of Peugeot 208 Rally4s.
Grogan will be aiming to build on some strong asphalt finishes in Ireland last year. Podiums in Galway, Killarney, and Donegal helped him finish third in both the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship’s Rally4 standings and the Stellantis Cup.
Grogan will continue his partnership with co-driver Ayrton Sherlock as the 24-year-old starts his third season behind the wheel of his 208 Rally4.
“We are excited to finally be getting back into the car for some action,” said Grogan. “It feels like a long time since the Cambrian Rally last October.
“There is no better place to start the year than the first round of Junior BRC. It is a compact event so it will be even more competitive on what looks to be a great set of stages.”
Donegal’s Kyle McBride is also eyeing up Junior BRC honours in his second year aboard Peugeot’s Rally4 offering.
“I am really looking forward to getting going this weekend,” said McBride. “It is my first rally of the year and I have never competed on the East Riding Stages before so it is going to be a nice learning experience.
“It is going to be an interesting year as Darragh [Mullen] and I focus on Junior BRC. We will start steady this weekend, building our pace as we go, gauging when we can push and when we should be a bit more cautious.I can’t thank the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy enough for giving me the opportunity as well as some other sponsors who have come on board for the season.”
Recently crowned Billy Coleman Award winner, Craig Rahill, completes MI Rally Academy’s representation on the ten-stage rally based in Yorkshire. The 21-year-old capped off an impressive 2024 by winning Junior BRC’s final round, the Cambrian Rally. Alongside co-driver Conor Smith, Rahill switches from a Ford Fiesta Rally4 to Peugeot’s equivalent for his latest season.
“It is nice to be getting back into a rally car again,” said the Cavan-based driver. “We grabbed our first Junior BRC win on the last event of 2024 but our approach to the East Riding Stages is different. We have a new car which will take a lot of getting used to so we will be finding a steady pace, building on that, and trying out different set-ups as the day progresses.”
The East Riding Stages Rally starts with the 12.7-kilometre Wawne Common test at 09:23 on Sunday.