Had there been a Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ on the East Riding Stages Rally, then it would surely have gone to Lee Edwards, who finished a ridiculous sixth overall, first 2WD, first in Class 3 and fourth in the overall Protyre Asphalt standings in his Jaguar V6-engined Blakemore’s Autos/Evans Construction/P&B Tyres/Bailey Performance Escort G3.
The slippery conditions hardly suited a powerful RWD car, but Lee and co-driver Sam Spencer completely ignored logic and went for it in sensational style – putting on a performance which symbolises the heart and soul of the BTRDA asphalt series.
“Our plan was to go out and find our feet, with the hope that we would be somewhere near the two-wheel drive pace,” said Lee.
“Stage one was very much a blur with the usual first stage nerves, but we made it through cleanly and then improved our time by just over six seconds on our second pass, putting us into the class lead.
“Come Sunday, we decided the safe option was to stick with the full wets for this first loop, to have half a chance of keeping the car on the road. The first stage of the morning was pretty sketchy, and we had a few moments where we found ourselves at some interesting angles, but we made it out the other end clean.”
As they reached midday service, Lee had opened a 41 second lead over his Protyre Asphalt class rivals Huw James/Lewis Sim.
With just four stages remaining the sun came out – although the stages were now even more challenging, thanks to well over 100 cars passing over them and dragging mud out onto the road.
“We were a little undecided on the tyre choice for this last loop of four stages, but with a healthy class lead we just had to maintain a decent pace and stay out of trouble to bring it home,” admits Lee.
Having opted for the safe full wet tyre option, another four fastest two-wheel drive stage times over the final loop saw the Oswestry driver achieved what he’d set out to do – and more.
Lee will return to action on 22 March at the Agbo Stages Rally, where Ben Crump will join him in the Escort G3. He will use the popular Weston Park event as a shakedown for the second round of the Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship, the Manx National Rally (8/9 May).
That is one hell of an achievement compared to the R5 and R2 cars. Especially for a privateer 👏👏👏👏👏👏