Stunning victory on Epynt sees Callum Black seize the lead of the Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship

Callum Black has taken the lead of the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship for the first time this year after scoring a stunning victory on the Nigel Ferguson Fabricators Tour of Epynt.  Witham Motorsport are proud to be the official lubricant partner for the championship.

Co-driven by Jack Morton, the 586 Sport driver was 10th in the points standings after the Manx but has since scored 88 points out of a possible 90 on the last three rounds to now head the table.

Callum’s magnificent drive over Epynt was bookmarked by two dramas. Firstly, the turbo pipe came off his Pallas Connections Ford Fiesta Rally2 twice on the road section between the start in Llandovery and SS1 on Saturday. Not knowing what caused it, Callum turned the boost down in the hopes that it wouldn’t happen on a stage, and since he was running out of order he was delayed on SS2 when he caught a car on the New Road. After a trouble-free middle part of the event, Callum then had to complete the eighth and final stage on Sunday with a hole in the exhaust manifold. Yet none of those worries prevented him scoring a maiden win over the famous mid-Wales military range.

“I’m very pleased to win on Epynt and we’re leading the Protyre Asphalt Championship now, but we’ve still got to do well on the last two rounds so it’s all to play for,” said Callum.

“We had to nurse the car to the end with reduced anti-lag as we had a hole in the exhaust manifold, but we still managed to go quickest on the last stage even though it didn’t feel anywhere near as fast as it did before. I had to change my driving style to try and help the engine and I actually found a bit of pace doing that, so it was a nice ending to the rally.”

Mark Kelly led after Saturday’s four stages and went into the overnight halt with a slender three second lead over Callum. Fastest time on Sunday’s opening stage nudged that advantage up to four seconds, but he and co-driver Will Atkins dropped 17 seconds to Callum right at the start of SS6 when the rear of their Kelmore Škoda Fabia R5 broke loose on the jump just before Llandeilo’r Fân Triangle and spun a full 180 degrees. The front bumper had been ripped off after contact with the soft grass bank and with no spare and no time to retrieve the bumper they had to take care on compressions and cuts as to not damage the exposed radiator and pipework. The incident cost them the lead and they held on to finish second – exactly 17 seconds behind Callum!

With heavy rain forecast and dark clouds overhead, Kevin Davies/Owain Davies were one of the few crews that didn’t start Saturday’s leg on wet tyres – which considering most of the New Road (SS2) was dry was a masterstroke. The Pencader driver admitted driving the Cobra Hydraulics Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 in such conditions was a “massive learning curve” – but he’s clearly a very quick learner as he held third overnight, just 13 seconds behind the leader. The Melvyn Evans Motorsport team stiffened the suspension as Sunday’s dry stages unfolded and Kevin continued to fly – with he, Callum and Mark setting exactly the same time on the 13.64 mile penultimate stage, stopping the clocks equal fastest on 11 minutes! Third fastest time on the final stage cemented an excellent podium finish.

Wayne Jones survived Saturday’s wet stages in sixth and set about making up for lost time in the dry on Sunday in his 2.5-litre Millington engined Darrian T90 GTR. Cheered on by a spectating 1990 Asphalt champion Geoff Kitney (who’d won the title in a Darrian), Wayne was on impressive form, although he and co-driver Dafydd Evans did lose a bit of time when dust in the slave cylinder (probably caused by the road sections through Monument forest) saw a gear selection issue when the car would select neutral instead of first at hairpins. A bit of grease solved that, and despite a stall at a hairpin on the penultimate stage Wayne was the top-placed Darrian finisher in fourth.

Simon Bowen started Leg 2 ninth after his wet tyres went off (like many) on SS2 – and started Sunday by setting fourth fastest time on SS5. Everything seemed to click for him and co-driver Craig Simkiss in the dry, as they stormed up the field to finish fifth in their Fiesta S2000T.

Hugh Hunter’s event began with an overshoot at the Llandeilo’r Fân Triangle on SS1 and wet tyres going off on SS2. Co-driven by Rob Fagg, he eventually finished sixth in his Robert Hunter & Son Tarmac/Lewis & Hunter Contracting Fiesta Rally2, just 13 seconds behind Simon, having lost a place when he had to stop and wait for Neil Roskell to reserve out of a ditch on SS5.

Sam Touzel was hoping for a good first run over Epynt, but a front hub sheared near the start of SS2 and he had to crawl through pretty much all of the New Road stage losing a lot of time. Together with co-driver Max Freeman, the Smart Scaffolding/Express Auto Parts Fiesta Rally2 driver flew on Sunday and whilst it was impossible to make up all the time lost, Sam did fight back magnificently from 22nd to finish seventh.

Stephen Simpson had an eventful run in his CA1 Sport-prepared Tudor Glass Fiesta Rally2. Co-driven by Mark Glennerster, the Manchester driver was fourth in the Protyre Asphalt standings overnight but lost 40 seconds in a ditch on SS6 – dropping him down to eighth at the finish.

It was the same ditch that one stage before had cost Neil Roskell over a minute and put his Protyre Asphalt title challenge in jeopardy. The Blackpool ace had been seventh overnight, thanks largely to his wet tyres going badly off on SS2, and needing a strong points finish he was on a charge in the dry Sunday conditions. It was on the exit of a slow, slippery downhill sharp right corner that saw the rear of his ND Civils/Burdens/Witham Motorsport Fiesta Rally2 break away and spin the car into a ditch on the inside. He damaged the gearbox selecting reverse and with cars running at 30 second intervals there was nowhere for Hugh Hunter to go as he arrived on the scene. The incident dropped Neil and co-driver Dai Roberts from sixth in the Protyre Asphalt standings to 11th, but they did recover over the remaining three long stages to finish ninth – which was far from the win they’d been aiming for. They do, however, remain a strong second in the points table.

Despite his decades of experience, this was Roger Duckworth’s first time on Epynt. With Port Talbot Motor Club organising some very long stages and the weather throwing almost everything at them, it was a challenging Epynt debut – which he and co-driver Alun Cook enjoyed, with the icing on the cake being a top 10 Protyre Asphalt points finish in their Technia Fiesta R5.

Philip Hopkins said that he needed to stop chasing R5 cars, but in truth there were many R5 cars chasing him as he raced across the range at full speed in his Hopkins Race Transporters Mitsubishi Evo 6. Co-driven by Sam Allen, the Bristol driver was inside the top 10 overall when he spun the car at high speed – flat-spotting all four tyres and bending the suspension when the car slammed into a bail. That would have slowed many down, but Philip pressed on regardless to pick up 12th-placed Protyre Asphalt points and win class B14 by one second!

William Hill went into the final stage two seconds behind Philip and in a titanic battle for B14 honours finished just one second behind! The wet Saturday stages needed to be wetter for the Worcester driver to make the most of his Hills Ford Fiesta Rally3, because he and co-driver Richard Crozier knew that the dry next day conditions would favour the more powerful machinery. A snapped gearstick early on Sunday’s opening stage didn’t help, but 15th overall and 13th Protyre Asphalt points finisher was a fantastic result.

Richard Slinger/Mark Twiname (Mitsubishi Evo 6) finished an excellent third in class B14, beating Nathan Bolton/Phil Kenny (Monza Installs Mitsubishi Evo 9) to the final class podium position.

The exhaust manifold broke on Adrian Spencer’s RED Industries/Adgespeed Subaru Impreza S11 WRC replica halfway through Saturday. Melvyn Evans Motorsport kindly welded it for them (and it wasn’t the only team that it helped over the weekend) allowing Adrian and co-driver Ashley Trimble to restart on Sunday – and having completed three quarters of the stage mileage, fourth in class B14 was their reward.

Tom Jones/Andy Conibear got through Saturday okay in their Eveleighs Garage Subaru Impreza but broke a half-shaft on SS5. They were rescued and returned for SS7, only for the replacement half-shaft to snap.

Father and son Roger and Tommi Henderson were having a great run in their gorgeous DKMS We Delete Blood Cancer Fiesta Rally2, but crashed out on the final stage.

Huw James/Lewis Sim had a magnificent run to Escort Challenge victory in their A&D Tyres Escort Mk2 – the Welsh pair also finished second in class B13 (behind Wayne Jones) to give Lewis the lead in the class co-drivers’ section, despite late alternator problems.

Max Murray/John Tear had a great outing in their new Citroën DS3 R3T to score a class B13 podium, finishing one place ahead of Aled Wyn Morgans/Ian Taylor (Aberystwyth Motorsport Escort Mk2).

Tim Cole/David Sutcliffe were going well on Saturday until an inner cup, which goes into the rear diff, broke on their Manx Automobile Assistance/MAA Logistics BMW E36 Compact on the day’s final stage (SS4). A call for help on social media located a spare in Swansea and having spent until 3am trying to fix it, the team were back in service three hours later to make repairs in daylight. Their magnificent efforts were rewarded with fifth in class – although another night out of bed was to follow, as they made their journey by van and ferry back to the Isle of Man.

Ben Crump/Ian Beamond had a fantastic run to class B11 victory in their Coltech Escort Mk2. Nathan Evans/Rhys Williams Edwards lost out on a potential class win in their Tuned Motorsport UK/The Kitchen Installers Renault Clio 3 RS after a slow start to Sunday, but a change of tyres put them right back on the lead Escort’s pace and they were separated by just nine seconds at the finish. Neil Jones/Alan Thomas completed the B11 podium in their Vauxhall Astra, while Michael Harbour/Cameron Dunn still lead the class despite finishing fifth in their VS Pro Pressure Washing Services/Miller Waste Water Escort Mk2.

On their first visit to Epynt, Rory and Paul McCann picked up a well-deserved class B10 victory in their Metalways Honda Civic and take the lead at the top of the table. Darren and Danni Pool had a great run to second in their Eveleighs Garage Vauxhall Corsa.

Simon Hunter/Howard Pridmore might have been down on power going uphill in their Kwiktrak Vauxhall Corsa S1400, but they flew on the level and downhill sections to win B9 and extend their class lead. Alex Roscoe/Stephen Roscoe collected their first points of the season with second in their Nissan Micra.

Nikki Addison is moving rapidly towards the Ladies’ Challenge title after a magnificent Epynt debut. Co-driven by Iain Thorburn, the Inverness driver put in a faultless performance to score her third class win in a row in her Electric Center Honda Civic Type-R. Nikki is also third in class B11.

Round 7 of the 2024 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship is the JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion (31 August-01 September).

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