Protyre News
Protyre Asphalt champion gets back behind the steering wheel
By Paul Evans
Jason Pritchard, the double Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Champion, has given both his North Road Garage-backed Ford Fiesta S2000 and Focus WRC05 a high-speed test ahead of the start of the 2021 season, having been out of the driving seat for well over a year.
The last time Jason, who won back-to-back Protyre Asphalt titles in 2018 and 2019, drove the Fiesta S2000 was on the Rally van Wervik in Belgium in June 2019.
And the last time he drove the Focus WRC05 was on the Ford Parts Cheviot Stages Rally on Otterburn in October 2019 – and the car has been fully rebuilt since then.
In fact, the last rally Jason and co-driver Phil Clarke contested was the Killarney Historic Stages Rally in November 2019 – finishing sixth in a Scott Williams Motorsport Ford Escort Mk2.
‘The main reason for the test day was to give both cars a run, as they've been stood so long,” said Jason.
“The last time I'd sat in a rally car was November 2019 on the Killarney Rally.
“It was good to get some seat time and make sure I could still drive a rally car!
“It was also good to finally see Phil again. We'd spent three weeks straight together, with build up to the Roger Albert Clark Rally and then heading straight over to Killarney, and we hadn't seen each other since then.”
The opening round of the 2021 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship is The Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally on Sunday 29 August.
