Mewla Rally

The Mewla may well have been out of the Protyre Asphalt Championship but it had a good entry and saw the return of spectators to the Epynt ranges too. Jason Pritchard & Phil Clarke (Focus WRC) took an early lead on SS1 but Wayne & Gwynfor Jones (Darrian T90 GTR) took the lead on SS2 and then held the lead through the repeat of the two stages, to lead at 2nd service. Pritchard took the lead back on SS5 and held on to it until the end of the event. Damian & Charly Cole (Fabia R5) were on a charge through the afternoon, with two fastest stages and one joint fastest, to climb up into 2nd place, with Jones completing the podium.

Tour of Epynt

Spectators were back up on Epynt for the first time since 2019 as the Tour of Epynt opened the 2022 Protyre Asphalt Championship. It was relative new faces to the championship who drew the most attention as Ruairi Bell & Max Freeman (Fabia R5) stunned all the others with fastest stage after fastest stage time, to take victory by 44s. They belied their lowly seeding of no.12 but in fairness it was their first time on the tarmac stages of Epynt. Mark Kelly & Neil Colman (Fiesta R5) has gone joint fastest on stage 1 with Bell, but it was stage 4 that saw them get a 20s time penalty, which briefly dropped them to 6th overall.

Melvyn Evans extends Protyre MSUK Asphalt Rally Championship lead with maximum points on the Hills Ford Three Shires

Melvyn Evans has extended his lead in the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship after securing another maximum points score on the Hills Ford Three Shires Stages Rally.

Melvyn Evans wins thrilling Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally to take an early lead in the Protyre MSUK Asphalt Rally Championship

Melvyn Evans charged to victory on the opening round of the 2021 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship by taking his Škoda Fabia R5 to a stunning victory on The Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally.

Mewla Rally

Running without the presence of spectators, on a sunbathed August Bank Holiday weekend, Melvyn Evans & Mark Glennerster (Fabia R5) dominated the event setting 6 fastest stage times out of 9 stages run. They finished 26s ahead of Jason Pritchard & Phil Clarke (Focus WRC), who took the other 3 fastest stage times. A distant 3^rd were Damian Cole & Dale Bowen (Fabia R5) with Darren Atkinson Phil Sandham (Escort MkII) the first 2WD crew home in 7^th overall.

Corinium Stages

Out again at Down Ampney and it was Will Nicholls & Nick Broom (Fiesta R5+) who took victory by over half a minute, on the Corinium Stages. Nicholls was fastest on 5 stages in total, joint fastest on two, and had opened up at 20s lead after the opening two stages. James Self & Ian Davis (Fiesta R5) were 2nd just 2s ahead of Damian Cole & Dale Bowen (Fabia R5). Another pair of stages saw Philip Hopkins & Dave Jenkins (Evo VI) jump up into 2nd place, after fastest and joint fastest stage time. Hopkins was bang on it now and after 6 stages Nicholls held a 31s lead. He then dropped 8s on stage 7 following some confusion at a split for Nicholls.

Six time champion Cole aims for Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship title in new Škoda Fabia R5

Damian Cole is aiming to win the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship for a seventh time this year – and be the first driver to win the coveted title in a WRC2/Rally2 spec car, as he contests Britain’s premier seal-surface series in an ex-works Škoda Fabia R5.

The Abergavenny driver won the Asphalt title five years running (2010-2014) and again in 2016. He narrowly missed out on the title in 2019, finishing second by just one point, after the dropped scores rule worked against him.

Having successfully rallied a variety of powerful cars – including a Ford Focus RS WRC05, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, two Hyundai Accent WRCs, a Subaru Impreza S5 WRC, a Metro 6R4 and four Darrians (to name but a few) – in a rally career dating back to 1995, this will be the first time that Cole has rallied an R5 car.

Jason Pritchard celebrates back-to-back Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship titles as Alan Kirkaldy wins on Otterburn

Jason Pritchard secured back-to-back Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship titles by the smallest of margins, beating arch rival Damian Cole to the trophy by just one point after a thrilling final round on the Ford Parts Cheviot Stages Rally on Otterburn.

Cheviot Stages Rally

The finale of the Asphalt Championship was billed as a winner takes all rally between Damian Cole and Jason Pritchard, but it didn’t prove to be that simple (or correct). The 1st stage was key as in the event of a tie break it could all come back to who went fastest on this stage. Cole, co-driven by Andrew Roughead (Fiesta WRC), was quickest from Pritchard by 2 seconds, who was co-driven by Phil Clarke in his Focus WRC. By the end of the first loop Alan Kirkaldy & Cameron Fair (Fiesta R5) had set two fastest times to be lying joint first with Cole, with Pritchard 10s back. The 2nd loop went the way of Kirkaldy who was upsetting the WRC machinery in his R5 car. After stage 9 Kirkaldy had grown his lead to 11s going fastest once more and it was followed up on loop 4 with another fastest time on SS10 before Cole pegged the lead back to 10s with a fastest time on SS11.

Winner takes all, as Cole and Pritchard head to Otterburn for the Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship finale

The destiny of the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship title will be decided on the final round of the series, as six time champion Damian Cole and reigning champion Jason Pritchard go head-to-head in a winner takes all shootout on the Ford Parts Cheviot Stages Rally on Sunday 22 September.