Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke will aim for a recording-breaking sixth Manx Rally win when they start Round 2 of the Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship this weekend (11/12 April) in their Pirelli-shod North Road Garage Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.
The triple Protyre Asphalt champions won the Manx for the first time in 2014 and followed that up with victory in 2015, ’16, ’18 and ’19 – each time in a Ford Focus WRC 05.
Having also won other events on the Isle of Man – like the 2021 PokerStars Rally and the 2017 Rally Isle of Man Historic – Jason will start this year’s event as favourite. But despite twice winning the Manx by over three minutes, the Builth Wells ace will face the toughest competition yet for his IOM crown.
Not least from 2022 Manx Rally winner Neil Roskell, who returns in his Michelin-shod ND Civils/Burdens/Witham Motorsport Ford Fiesta Rally2.
Co-driven by Rob Fagg, the Blackpool driver took home third-placed points on the opening East Riding Stages and another strong performance on the non-championship West Cork Rally has kept Neil closed lane match fit in the interim seven weeks.
2022 Protyre Asphalt champion Steve Wood finished second on last year’s Manx and excels on those classic stages. Co-driven by Kenny Hull, the Aberystwyth driver will also be out for victory in his Citroën C3 Rally2.
Mark Kelly will be keen to reboot his title challenge after skidding off the road in East Riding – but with the best five out of seven rounds to count, that will merely go down as one of his two dropped scores.
Six-time Protyre Asphalt champion Damian Cole will return to the Isle of Man for the first time since 2021 as he contests the event in his Get Connected Citroën C3 Rally2.
Chris Simmons/Frazer Moss will be aiming for the top 2WD spot in their Darrian T90 GTR, while also aiming for a great result will be Richard Poole/James Clarke (BMW M3 E36), Neil Matthews/Daniel Petrie (Proton Satria) and Chris Ford/Neil Colman (Citroën C3 Rally2).
Cal McCarthy (co-driven by Eric Calnan) comes over from Clonakilty in his Citroën C3 Rally2, while John Stone has entered in his Legend Fires/Legend Performance Engineering Volkswagen Polo GTI R5.
The battle for top Escort honours, and the prestigious Escort Challenge award, will be keenly fought and led by class leaders Huw James/Lewis Sim in their A&D Tyres Escort Mk2 – while Mark Jasper/Don Whyatt will once again be hot on their heels in their Jaspers Bakeries Escort Mk2.
