Pritchard extends Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship lead after record-equalling fifth Manx National victory

Jason Pritchard has extended his lead in the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship after taking maximum points on both days of the double-header Masterpixel Media Manx National Rally – with his latest win on the Isle of Man equalling Kenny McKinstry’s five event victories.

The Builth Wells driver had opened up a 57 second lead after a slippery points-scoring first eight stages on Friday, and had to do it all again if he was to score another maximum points haul on eight dry and fast stages on Saturday.

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Manx National Rally

A fantastic weekend of rallying saw Jason Pritchard & Phil Clarke (Focus WRC) take their 5th consecutive win on the Manx National Rally, to equal the overall victory record held by Kenny McKinstry. For 2019 the event counted as two rounds of the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship, with Friday as round 1 and Saturday as round 2. Fastest times of 3 of the opening loop of 4 stages saw Pritchard hold a 55s lead over Jamie Jukes & James Morgan (Mirage). Dan Harper & Chris Campbell had gone fastest on stage 2 and were 2nd but a minute dropped on the 4th stage saw Harper retire for the day, as a precaution. 3rd overall were Andrew Dudgeon & Joe Dooley (Evo 6.5) just over 20 seconds back. John Stone & Jack Morton (Fiesta WRC) were close behind in 4th with Harper in 5th, briefly.

Protyre Asphalt Rally Champion and series leader Pritchard heads magnificent Manx National entry

Jason Pritchard will start the Manx Auto Sport-organised Masterpixel Media Manx National Rally (10-11 May) as favourite – but such is the quality of the double-header Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship entry that the defending champion, series leader, four time event winner and number one seed will need to be at his very best to take the top spot once again.

Pritchard gets his Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship title defence off to a winning start on the Tour of Epynt

Jason Pritchard got the defence of his Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship title off to the best possible start by winning the opening round of the 2019 series, the Rallynuts National Tour of Epynt Rally, in his North Road Garage Ford Focus WRC05.

Tour of Epynt

Continuing a mad weekend for us, the Tour of Epynt saw windy, wintry and sunny conditions hit the opening round of the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship. Damian Cole & Shelley Rogerson (Focus WRC) were fastest through the short opening stage before Jason Pritchard & Phil Clarke (Focus WRC) went fastest through stage 2, taking the lead by 5s. 2018 Champion Pritchard did not let anyone in for the next 4 loops of stages as he went fastest on the remaining stages. The final victory margin was over two minutes as Cole dropped over a minute on the final stage, only just holding on to 2nd overall. Seb Ling & Aled Rees were superb all day in their DS3 R5 and ended up only 3s behind Cole.

More drivers to benefit from Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship tyre rewards

More drivers will benefit from the lucrative event-by-event tyre rewards offered by Protyre Motorsport, thanks to a reworking of the 2019 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship incentive and bonus schemes.

Last year, over 100 tyres were offered as rewards to the most successful drivers per event in the overall classification, historic section and 1400cc categories. For 2019, this generous incentive will be offered to even more of the class competitors, with tyre rewards going to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd registered drivers overall in the general classification, the 1st registered driver in each of the three classes from B10 to B15 by rotation and to the 1st registered driver overall in classes 1400C and 1400S by rotation (subject to there being five or more in the 1400 classes).