Protyre News

Protyre Motorsport are back in action again for Round 2 of the Protyre MSA Asphalt Championship, The Manx National Rally. Manx Auto Sport have been working hard to organise an eye-watering 130 special stage mile route over some of the best rally asphalt stages in Europe.

The packed route of 16 stages across 120 road miles starts with four separate stages, Creg-ny-Baa, Druidale, Knocksharry and Baldwins. These will be run twice on the Friday night.

Saturday contains another four stages, Keristal, Parville, St Mark’s and Balladoole, which will also be run twice. The longest stage of the event is Parville at 12.86 miles, followed by Knocksharry (12.08 miles) and Baldwins (11.34 miles).

The rally will end at the iconic TT Grandstand. This is also where Protyre Motorsport will be servicing the event. To pre-order tyres for this event or make an enquiry with Protyre Motorsport, contact Shaun Chetwyn by clicking the button below:

So, what happened in the last round?

Melvyn Evans was triumphant, after last competing in this event six years ago! Evans won the 74 mile event, inching out the opposition by 39 seconds. Damian Cole may have felt slightly aggrieved not to have been victorious having set an equal fastest time with Evans on the opening two stages but still finished strongly to claim second place. Despite limited time in the less powerful S2000, Jason Pritchard and co-driver Phil Clarke set an impressive pace and finished an excellent third overall.

Here’s what the drivers had to say:

Melvyn Evans: “It’s been six years since I last drove this Subaru Impreza WRC on Epynt – we were car number three on the Tour of Epynt in 2012 and won, and this year we were car number three and we won again, so we’ll have to be car number three more often!”

Damian Cole: “It’s always nice to win but I’ve only won the Tour of Epynt once before and lost count of the times I’ve been second here and it’s bridesmaid again today! I said before the start that Melvyn was the one to watch and he’s proved the case and has been very fast all day.”

Jason Pritchard: “I haven’t driven the Fiesta S2000 very much at all, and every mile in the car we do we’re improving. The car hasn’t got the grunt of a World Rally Car, and on the long uphill sections of the New Road, and accelerating out of tight junctions, we were obviously losing a bit of time. But we were fastest in the rain on the final stage so, had it been wet throughout the day, maybe we could have been a bit closer to challenging for the win.”

It was a successful event for Protyre Motorsport, with nearly every registered Championship competitor taking advantage of the comprehensive tyre selection of over 1100 Pirelli, Michelin, Hoosier and Hankook motorsport tyres and the professional fitting service on offer.
 
Check out the highlights from The Tour of Epynt here...

Here’s what the Protyre MSA Asphalt Rally Championship table looks like after Round 1:

Did you know?

You can stream Round 2 of the Protyre MSA Asphalt Rally Championship with Special Stages. Simply click the button below and enjoy!