Osian Pryce heads to the Cambrian Rally with one final opportunity to turn a season of pace and drama into a second British Rally Championship title.
Osian Pryce, Max McRae and Meirion Evans arrive in North Wales with the 2026 Motorsport UK British Rally Championship title still up for grabs, separated by just two points after an extraordinary weekend at Rali Ceredigion.
The 33-year-old started the season as one of the championship’s established title favourites and has already demonstrated exactly why, taking victories on both the opening Severn Valley Stages and the Grampian Forest Rally. But after a dramatic twist in Ceredigion, he finds himself in a three-way battle for the title.
Pryce returned to the Castrol MEM Rally Team for 2026 alongside James Morgan, the pairing reunited with a clear objective: fight for the British Rally Championship crown. And fight they have, overcoming a disappointing Ceredigion Sunday to be in with an equal chance of the title.
It is a championship Pryce has won before; his 2022 title came during his previous spell with MEM, and this season’s return has once again placed him at the sharp end of Britain’s premier domestic rally series.
The campaign began in exactly the fashion he would have wanted – taking maximum points on the Severn Valley Stages, putting their Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 straight to the top of the championship standings. He then added another victory at the Grampian Forest Rally in August, producing a superb performance on Scottish gravel to strengthen his advantage.
By the time the championship reached Ceredigion, Pryce had built a sizeable lead – but Rali Ceredigion had other ideas.
The unusual double-header format gave the leading contenders two opportunities to score, and Pryce made the most of the first. He finished second in the BRC contest on Saturday, missing maximum points by less than five seconds after a difficult start caused by an unfavourable road position.
Then came Sunday. With the championship fight entering its most intense phase, Pryce was pushing hard in the Toyota and had moved up to fourth overall when disaster struck. A gearbox problem brought his rally to an abrupt halt on the second stage of the day.
A potential haul of crucial championship points disappeared in an instant and Pryce’s retirement left all three separated by just two points heading into the finale. But if anyone knows how to win a British Rally Championship title, it is Pryce.
He has the experience of championship success, the speed to win on both gravel and asphalt and, crucially, an intimate knowledge of the pressures that come with a title fight.
Another British Rally Championship crown is just a rally victory away. Pryce knows what it feels like to win one title; now he must fight for it all over again.
