Sam Touzel is the 2025 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Champion* after a phenomenal season in his Smart Scaffolding/Germbusters/The Trade Centre UK-supported Ford Fiesta Rally2.
As top-placed Ford finisher, Sam is also rewarded with a private test drive in a Ford Puma Rally1 at the M-Sport Evaluation Centre test track – the biggest prize in British national rallying.
Following the mandatory seven-day period during which championship points queries could be lodged, maximum points on the R Kings Down Rally – which came immediately after Sam’s first BTRDA series win on the Dunoon Presents Argyll Rally – have been confirmed, giving the 32-year old an unassailable lead at the top of the UK’s premier sealed-surface series.
It’s a remarkable rise up the rallying ladder for the Jersey driver, who only started competing seven years ago.
Sam’s first event was the Guernsey Rally in 2018 and in the first two years he contested six rallies in a Citroën Saxo VTS – before switching to an Escort Mk2 and tackling seven rallies between 2021-2023.
The big step came in 2024 when he moved up to a Fiesta Rally2 and contested the Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship for the first time.
After several impressive debut results – including a top 10 finish on the Manx and seventh on the Nigel Ferguson Fabricators Tour of Epynt – Sam scored his first major overall win with victory on his home Jersey Rally.
Sam started the 2025 season with a strong fifth-place points finish on the opening East Riding Stages. He then set the fastest time on the opening stage of the Manx Rally and led the Protyre Asphalt standings for the first nine stages. He looked set for a second-place points finish, but dropped to fourth after a late puncture.
Another major breakthrough came in Aygyll, when Sam set 13 fastest (and three second fastest) times to win the 16 stage event by almost a minute in his Michelin-shod PB Engineering-prepared car.
Driving a brand-new and latest-spec Fiesta Rally2, Sam not only dominated the Protyre Asphalt section on the most recent Down Rally, but took the fight for victory to the local drivers – setting the fastest overall time on the penultimate stage to finish a close third overall and taking back-to-back Protyre Asphalt maximum points.
With dropped scores to take into account, second-placed Jason Pritchard could only equal Sam’s current score of 114 points if he were to win the final Tour of Epynt – but Sam would still win the title on a tiebreak.
Sam’s navigator Max Freeman is in a close battle with Jason’s partner Phil Clarke for the overall Protyre Asphalt co-drivers’ title.
“It’s been awesome being part of such a great championship with such great people,” says Sam.
“I cannot thank Callum Black enough for all his help and tips, Matt Edwards for all his tuition this year, and PB Engineering for all its hard work in keeping myself and Max safe and the car running faultlessly.
“I would also like to thank Max Freeman for stepping up and sitting in with me this year and for all his knowledge and hard work in getting me to where I am today.
“I would also like to thank all my sponsors in making this dream a reality, and lastly I would like to thank all the organisers and volunteers who run each of the rounds as without them we wouldn’t even have a championship to compete in.”
Sam is supported by Smart Scaffolding, Germbusters, The Trade Centre UK, CC Fixings, Treevolution, L&P Mobile Vehicle Repairs, Northern Project, EP Carpentry & Building, BLD Roofing, Chasing Cars CI, Touzel Construction, ACE Engineering, AAL Recycling, Express Auto Parts and DFDS Jersey.
* Protyre Asphalt Championship points will only become final seven days after the provisional end of year points are published on the website.
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