In only his second season of competition, Olly Hunter is up at the sharp end and challenging for two titles in this year’s Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship – and despite the disappointment of failing to finish two rallies, the best five scores from seven rule puts him in a very strong position.
Olly won class B11 on the Jim Clark and finished second in Argyll his Vauxhall-engined HES Electrical Contractors-backed Ford Escort Mk2.
The Preston driver currently leads the category, two points ahead of Geoff Glover and with Paul Doroszczuk three points further behind in third. The battle for the title is set for an exciting finish, as all three have already dropped two scores.
Olly is also third in the Ford Escort Challenge – but that’s a tougher title to win as Brad Cole has a healthy lead and Darren Atkinson is 33 points ahead of Olly in second place.
But those retirements on the Tour of Epynt and Down Rally might just play into Olly’s hands – providing he has a clean and high points-scoring run on the remaining three rounds.
“This year’s Protyre Asphalt Championship has been eventful up to now,” admits Olly.
“Crashing on the Burma Road on Epynt and having to put two new chassis legs on the car before the Jim Clark was a big job, but it paid dividends.
“We’re still unsure what is wrong with the car after our retirement on the Down Rally, but we’ll have that resolved by Rali Ceredigion – where we’ll be looking to win class B11 and get a top 10 overall Protyre Asphalt result as well.
“Dan May is sat back in the car for round five and we will do the rest of the season together. Obviously with me only starting rallying last year, having an experienced co-driver alongside is quite important.
“I also just want to say a massive thank you to Paul Webster, aka Webby, for running the car.”
The next round of the 2022 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship is the Get Connected Rali Ceredigion (3/4 September).
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