Round 1: Tour of Epynt, 8 March

A late charge from Simon Mauger in his Metro 4M4 sealed victory on round one, the Melvyn Evans Motorsport Tour of Epynt, by just one second!

After six of the seven special stages on the Epynt Military Ranges, defending champion Damian Cole and co-driver Jack Morton were leading by nine seconds. However, a well-judged drive by Mauger over the last 14 miles saw him beat last year’s winner through the stage by a full 10 seconds.

Third were John Indri and Peter James, who came back from an early ‘off’ to win the battle of the two-wheel-drive cars in their Darrian T90 GTR. Former Tour of Epynt winners, Steve Simpson and Patrick Walsh, retired on the opening stage after their Subaru Impreza WRC made contact with one of the chicanes.

Results1 Simon Mauger / Jonathan Hawkins (Metro 4M4) 1h02m20s2 Damian Cole / James Morgan (Ford Focus WRC) 1h02m21s3 John Indri / Peter James (Darrian T90 GTR) 1h06m17s

Provisional championship standings1 Simon Mauger – 30 points2 Damian Cole – 283 John Indri – 274 Adrian Spencer – 265 Bob Fowden – 25