Jason Pritchard will begin the defence of his Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship title on this Sunday’s Rallynuts National Tour of Epynt Rally.
His North Road Garage-backed Ford Focus WRC05 is heading down from Cumbria today after pre-season maintenance – but with scrutineering and a recce tomorrow, it will leave the Builth Wells driver with no time to test before the event gets underway on Sunday morning.
But that’s not unusual, as work has always prevented Jason from testing before his first rally of a new season – yet it hasn’t stopped his incredible record of success, winning four titles in as many years. He won a record-breaking three MSA British Historic Rally Championships in a row (2015, ’16 and ‘17) and the Asphalt Rally Championship crown last year.
Together with co-driver Phil Clarke, Jason is seeded at number one for the star-studded Port Talbot MC-organised series opener.
“I haven’t really had any time to think too much about defending my title, as with new car registrations in March we are very busy here in the Toyota dealership,” said Jason.
“That means I won’t have time to test the car before the first rally of the season either – although that isn’t unusual, because work means that I never have done any pre-season testing! Work is one of the main reasons we register to do a rally championship, because unless we made that commitment we’d never leave the North Road Garage showroom!”