15/05/2026
⚠️ Kielder Carlisle Stages – Event Statement
The Roger Albert Clark Rally Motor Club regret to announce that the Kielder Carlisle Stages, planned for 5/6 June 2026 has been cancelled.
The event, based in Carlisle and using the iconic Kielder Forest complex over two days, was scheduled to host the Motorsport UK British Rally Championship, Fuchs British Historic Rally Championship and Motoscope Northern Historic Rally Championship, but with just three weeks remaining until the event, entries are significantly short of the number required to ensure the rally can run.
The Carlisle Stages returned to the British rallying calendar in 2025, stepping in at just a few months’ notice to ensure BRC, BHRC and Welsh Rally Championship contenders could maintain a healthy calendar of events when many forests in Wales were inaccessible due to storm damage. The event was won by FIA World Rally Championship WRC2 contenders Romet Jurgenson and Siim Oja in their Ford Fiesta Rally2.
In 2026, event promoters, the RACRMC, had agreed with the organisers to underwrite the event up to a loss of £20,000. Unfortunately, with the current entry levels, it was likely that this figure would be doubled, and this is not sustainable.
With the current entry unlikely to be improved upon in the coming days to a satisfactory number, rally organisers have elected to make a timely call on the cancellation, to allow those who have already committed to the event time to make alternative plans.
“Of course, we are bitterly disappointed to be forced to cancel this year’s event after such a successful running in 2025”, said Clerk of the Course Colin Heppenstall.
“We had created a fantastic route across prime Kielder roads, with Friday night’s stages offering the chance for the British Rally Championship to return to the complex in the dark for the first time in over 12 years. Our route offered one of the longest gravel events in the UK this year, but sadly, we are far short of the number needed to make the event viable.
“Despite the Roger Albert Clark Rally Motor Club offering to support a significant financial loss to ensure the event could run, it was clear this week that we would not reach the bare minimum needed, and we have no choice but to make this unfortunate decision.
“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the volunteers and officials who have already staffed all the stages. Of course, no event can run without close working relationships with landowners, councils and event officials, and I would like to thank both Forestry England and Forest and Land Scotland for their understanding regarding the cancellation, as well as the local councils for their work in closing footpaths and bridleways”.
“I am sorry that this announcement has had to be made. It was taken with a heavy heart, but it was the correct decision for the future of the Club.”
The organisers will contact all competitors who had entered, and a full refund will be issued to all crews.
