Welsh rally team-mates Elfyn Evans and co-driver Craig Parry won the John Mulholland Motors Ulster Rally last weekend and claimed the 2016 MSA British Rally Championship title.
The Ulster Rally also marked a special anniversary in the Evans household as Elfyn’s success comes twenty years on since father Gwyndaf won the same title on the Ulster Rally back in 1996.
The DMACK British Rally Team crew of Evans & Parry continued their impressive success rate, making it four wins from six in Britain’s premier rallying series in their Ford Fiesta R5.
Ulsterman Jonathan Greer, in a Citroen DS3 R5, equalled his season best with a smooth and controlled drive to second, whilst Scottish driver David Bogie took the final step on the podium in his Skoda Fabia R5 – making it three manufacturers in the top three.
The legendary Ulster Rally got underway at lunchtime on Friday 19 August in front of a large crowd in the heart of Derry/Londonderry city centre. From there, crews took on 48.62 competitive miles on the first day before a mammoth 85.24 miles on the second, totalling 133.86 miles through the challenging lanes of Northern Ireland. Heavy rain on both days made for greasy and demanding conditions, which created difficult tyre choices, as teams attempted to predict the conditions for every stage of the event – hoping for the smallest of advantages over their rivals.
Evans enjoyed an opening day battle with series returnee Keith Cronin and non-registered Alistair Fisher. The World Championship star struggled with tyre choice on the first day but still got the best out of his DMACK-shod Fiesta to chalk up a 4.5 second lead over a hard charging Cronin overnight.
On the final day the Dolgellau-based driver showed his class as he eked out a 1:07.6 second lead over Fisher at the finish, to take the 2016 Ulster Rally spoils and with it the 2016 MSA British Rally Championship title.