Mark Kelly leads the Nigel Ferguson Fabricators Tour of Epynt overnight by just three seconds in his Kelmore Škoda Fabia R5.
Torrential rain on one side of the Epynt ranges and relatively dry conditions on the other made tyre choice very difficult, but Mark and co-driver Will Atkins managed their wet tyres better than most to lead after four challenging stages.
Callum Black had early dramas as the turbo pipe came off his Pallas Connections Fiesta Rally2 twice on the road section between the start in Llandovery and SS1. Co-driven by Jack Morton, the 586 Sport driver turned the boost down as he started the stage just in case, and now running down the order he lost time when he caught a car on the New Road on SS2. Despite this, the defending Protyre Asphalt champions are second.
Kevin Davies/Owain Davies are third in their Cobra Hydraulics Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, 13 seconds behind the leaders.
They’re upholding Melvyn Evans Motorsport honours after Melvyn Evans/Michael Gilbey crashed their Polo GTI R5 on the Burma Road.
With heavy rain forecast and dark clouds overhead, most crews went out on wet weather tyres – which worked well on SS1, but not so well on the much drier long stage over the New Road (SS2).
Crews which had major overheating tyre issues included Neil Roskell/Dai Roberts (ND Civils/Burdens/Witham Motorsport Fiesta Rally2), Hugh Hunter/Rob Fagg (Robert Hunter & Son Tarmac/Lewis & Hunter Contracting Fiesta Rally2) – who also lost time with by overshooting Llandeilo’r Fân Triangle on SS1 – and Simon Bowen/Craig Simkiss (Fiesta S2000T). They completed Leg 1 +55, +58 and +1min 02 seconds behind the leader respectively.
Sam Touzel was hoping for a good first run over Epynt, but a front hub sheared near the start of SS2 and he had to crawl through pretty much all of the New Road stage losing a lot of time. Together with co-driver Max Freeman, the Smart Scaffolding/Express Auto Parts Fiesta Rally2 driver will be hoping to regain some of that lost time on tomorrow’s hopefully much dryer day two.
Round 6 of the 2024 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship continues on Sunday (21 July) with four more long stages on Epynt, before the finish back in Llandovery tomorrow afternoon.
Be the first to comment