MID Wales rallying has been dealt a major blow after the Nicky Grist Rally was cut from next year’s British Rally Championship (BRC) calendar.

The popular Builth Wells rally joins the Scottish Rally in being controversially cut from its six rally calendar in favour of including Belgium’s Ypres Rally.

The only Welsh involvement in next year’s BRC will be the final stage, the Dayinsure Wales Rales Rally GB, the British round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).

BRC spokesman Ben Taylor said: “Putting a calendar together is always a difficult process, particularly when there are more candidate events than we can accommodate.

“We have had to take some tricky decisions and as a result both the Nicky Grist Stages and the Scottish Rally have missed out this time around.

“We are grateful for their commitment to the BRC in the past two years and, as classic events, we wish them every success in 2018.

“As the BRC becomes more popular we have to ensure it delivers on other aspects as well as simply the stages and organisation.

“We need crowds, a strong impact on the local area and the creation of events to ensure that the championship continues to grow.”