Back in the BRC – in a Castrol Toyota GR Yaris Rally2

Osian Pryce has joined the Castrol MEM Rally Team for an all-out attack on the 2026 British Rally Championship title – and he’ll make his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 competition debut on the opening round of the series, the Severn Valley Stages (11 April).

Osian drove a Melvyn Evans Motorsport (MEM) Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 when he clinched the BRC drivers’ title in 2022 and returns to the familiar surroundings of the Carmarthenshire-based team, in what he hopes will be another title-winning season.

Osian hasn’t driven a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 before and will only have a brief private test before his first event – although that is unlikely to be too much of a disadvantage, as very few drivers anywhere in the world have more experience driving top R5 and Rally2 machinery.

Since 2022, the 33-year old Machynlleth-born driver has remained match fit – contesting rounds of the 2023 FIA European Rally Championship (winning Rali Ceredigion in a Polo GTI R5) and becoming Tour European Rally Champion (after winning the Rally Terra Sarda in a Hyundai i20 N Rally2). In 2024 he finished third in the BRC drivers’ standings (winning the Severn Valley Rally in a Ford Fiesta Rally2), and in 2025 Osian achieved a long-time ambition of winning the Roger Albert Clark Rally (in a Wales Motorsport Ford Escort RS1800 Mk2).

Indeed, Osian is rarely out of a rally car these days, after establishing his in-demand personalised rally driving tuition business, The Leading Edge.

The Llandrindod Wells-based Severn Valley Stages will be Osian’s first event in a Michelin-shod Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, and his 125th rally start.

Osian will be co-driven by James Morgan (from Llandysul in Ceredigion). The pair have done one rally together before – the 2015 Cambrian Rally in an R5-spec Mitsubishi Mirage – and James brings with him an equally impressive amount of World, European and British Rally Championship expertise.

Osian Pryce said: “It’s nice to return to the British Rally Championship with a familiar team and top Rally2 machinery. I’ve been searching for a way back into a regular seat in a Rally2 car for a while, and it came when I was least expecting it. It was nice to receive the ‘phone call and to hear that I’m still considered worthy of the opportunity.

“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s obviously going to be a new challenge taking on a new car, but the best results have always come for me when I’m in the same car on a regular basis, and I’m very much looking forward to working again with Melvyn Evans Motorsport.

“It would be nice to start where we left off with Melvyn Evans Motorsport last time. A few years have gone by since then, but I’m really looking forward to the challenge and being back in the British Rally Championship in a top car. I’ve only sat in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 so far, so I can’t wait to drive it for the first time. The aim is to do our best and hopefully take the title at the end of the year.”

Osian is supported by The Leading Edge, Hills Automotive, Haddo Energy, Demon Tweeks, LAS Recycling, Bell, Red Kite Glass, SMART Bodyshop Solutions Group, Rhode-Trax, Morrisons Daily, Superfast Properties, Gorsaf Betrol Tymawr, Diogel Events, J.E Rees & Sons, Jordan Road Surfacing, Glenbrook, and his own family-run specialist building firm G+M Pryce.

2026 British Rally Championship calendar
11 April….Severn Valley Stages
22/23 May….Borders Competitions Jim Clark Rally
5/6 June….Kielder Carlisle Stages
7/8 August….Grampian Forest Rally
4/6 September….Rali Ceredigion
24 October….Cambrian Rally