Matthew Hirst’s ‘beyond my expectations’ East Riding Stages Rally podium finish

Multiple gravel rally champion Matthew Hirst says that finishing on the overall podium on the East Riding Stages Rally, and scoring second placed Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship points was “beyond my expectations” as he stormed to a brilliant result in his Pirelli-shod Delta Salvage/Witham Motorsport/Speedline Corse Škoda Fabia R5.

Against some of the very best asphalt rally drivers in the UK, the reigning BTRDA Series and Pirelli Welsh forest rally champion led the event early on before maintaining a fast and consistent top three pace to keep all but two of Britain’s best sealed surface drivers behind him.

Meticulous preparation, correct tyre choices, precision co-driving by Declan Dear, the faultless performance of his JD Rallysport-run Fabia R5 and the loan of some factory-spec lights from a friend were some of the key elements that all came together for Matthew to score a podium result on asphalt that he admits was beyond his expectations.

“To finish third on the East Riding Stages Rally, against so many of the most experienced and best asphalt rally drivers in the UK, is beyond my expectations,” says Matthew.

“When I saw the entry list, I thought that a top six finish would be a very respectable result. Having done most of my rallying up until now on gravel, I expected that’s where or whereabouts I’d be if I had a good clean run.

“Declan and I put in a lot of work to prepare for the event, particularly for the night-time stages where you can’t always see the slippiest sections until it’s too late. And that certainly paid dividends, because we led the event after the first two stages in the dark. 

“We knew that the asphalt experts would be on a charge come the daylight stages on Sunday, but we made a very good tyre choice by going out on Pirelli wet tyres in the morning and Pirelli soft slicks in the afternoon. That enabled us to continue setting top three times pretty much throughout the day and kept all bar two of the asphalt experts behind us.

“I’m delighted with the result. We earned our first asphalt podium finish by doing our own thing well and by being consistently fast from start to finish. 

“The Fabia R5 once again ran perfectly, so a big ‘thank you’ to JD Rallysport for preparing such a reliable car. I also must thank Pirelli for supplying such fantastic tyres and to my good friend Bob Morgan, Škoda UK dealer principal down at Winner Garage in Cinderford, for loaning me his factory-spec lamp pods that worked so well in the dark!”