Jonathan Stepney made a fantastic Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship debut on the Masterpixel Media Manx National Rally to win the B12 class both times on the double-header event.
Co-driven by his stepfather, the highly experienced Aled Davies, the 43-year old Perth-based Welsh driver lost the brakes on his self-built, Motorhome Services Scotland-backed, 1.9-litre engined Peugeot 205 GTi for three stages (SS6-8), but put his road rallying experience to good use to win the class on Friday night by six and a half minutes.
Another good performance on Saturday saw him win the class again, helped by Mike Pugsley/Marc Clatworthy losing 10 minutes when the alternator fell off their Escort Mk1 RS2000.
Two maximum scores has put Stepney, who represented Wales at Clay Pigeon shooting, second in B12, nine points behind defending class champion Pugsley, who has scored on all three rounds.
Stepney, who finished the Manx National 25th overall, is expected to go very well on the forthcoming rounds of the series – especially the Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally (25 August), as he has led the two-litre class, and held top 30 overall positions, on his last two visits to Epynt.
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