Sam Touzel ended a perfect Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship title-winning season by scoring his first outright victory on one of the most demanding venues in the calendar, clinching victory by over a minute on the Ynyscynon MOT Centre Tour of Epynt (27/28 September).
Proudly carrying number one on the side of his Smart Scaffolding/Trade Centre UK Ford Fiesta Rally2 for the first time, the top-seeded Jersey driver had only rallied on the famous rollercoaster Mynydd Epynt military range roads once before – but he and his title-winning co-driver Max Freeman romped home to a memorable win like Epynt experts.
David Wright/Jane Nicol had only been 10 seconds behind at the overnight halt but concentrated on bringing their GPM/DamperTek/Grove Hill Garage Fiesta Rally2 home without any drama, on what was the Lancaster driver’s first visit to Epynt for two decades.
Damian Cole had been hitting the rev-limiter too often on leg one, but with that sorted out he was much happier on leg two. Co-driven by Paul Spooner, the pair – who’d won their first rally on Epynt together in 2008 – launched a big push on the final stage to secure the final podium position in their flying Get Connected Citroën C3 Rally2.
John Stone/Rhys Stoneman finished just nine seconds behind in their Legend Performance Engineering Volkswagen Polo GTI R5. They’d had to overcome an engine issue on Friday but were back to full speed on Saturday and narrowly missed out on a podium finish.
Roger Duckworth/Alun Cook were embroiled in the three-way battle for third but had to settle for fifth in their Technia Fiesta R5, just 15 seconds off the podium after over an hour of flat-out competition.
Huw James was once again the top 2WD driver home, finishing ninth overall and taking home seventh-place Protyre Asphalt points in his A&D Tyres Escort Mk2.
