James Ford’s fantastic UK Asphalt Rally Championship victory on the Beatson’s Building Supplies Jim Clark Rally has blown the race for the UK’s premier sealed-surface rally title wide open, especially as many of the title favourites failed to finish.
Co-driven by Neil Shanks, James raced to an impressive Protyre Asphalt maximum score on the Scottish Borders event (just as he did last year) in his Citroën C3 Rally2, finishing 48.9 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.
Callum Black/Jack Morton needed a top-scoring result in their Pallas Connections Ford Fiesta Rally2 as they attempt to win back-to-back Protyre Asphalt titles, and that’s exactly what they did with a controlled run to second.
The 586 Sport crew’s caution over Friday night’s exceptionally tricky six stages paid dividends as they stretched their legs on Saturday’s dry but still slippery eight daytime stages with a textbook performance. The result sees Callum move from 10th to sixth in the points table.
David Henderson/Chris Lees made their first Protyre Asphalt appearance of the year in their Keco/PAR Petroleum Fiesta Rally2 and recovered well from losing time on Leg 1 with transmission and driveshaft issues to take home third-place Protyre Asphalt points.
It was another great performance from Simon Bowen, who equalled his best finish of the season by picking up fourth-place points in his Fiesta S2000T.
James Williams started well (3rd overall / 2nd Protyre Asphalt) on the opening stage, but from then on Leg 1 was a bit of a disaster – beginning with a puncture on SS2 and ending with an off on SS6.
The Orange Amplifiers Hyundai i20 N Rally2 driver went into the overnight halt 13th overall / 4th Protyre Asphalt, having lost around two and a half minutes in total. Co-driven by Ross Whittock, James was hoping that a new day would witness a fresh start and better luck, but he retired on Leg 2’s opening stage when the power steering failed.
2024 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship – top 6 drivers’ overall after Round 4:
1. Simon Bowen….101pts
2. James Williams….91pts
3. Darren Atkinson….90pts
4. Neil Roskell….81pts
5. Steve Wood….78pts
6. Callum Black….77pts
