There was considerable success for Yokohama’s two supported rally drivers last weekend in the Protyre MSA Asphalt Rally Championship on the Carryduff Forklift Down Rally.
In his first appearance in Northern Ireland since 1995, Daniel Harper scored one of the best results of his rallying career, finishing an impressive fourth overall in his Minisport-run John Cooper Works Mini WRC, taking maximum points in the Championship.
Harper was quickly into his stride, setting some consistently fast times as others around him spun into the scenery and left bodywork parts scattered across County Down. The faultless performance by Harper and co-driver Chris Campbell and their maximum points haul helped move them from third to second in the series’ overall standings.
“This really was one of our best ever results,” enthused Daniel Harper after the rally. “Everything went according to plan, which is unusual in rallying! The roads were fantastic. The event was great and the tyres worked incredibly well. Coming into the event we’d hoped to maybe get seventh or sixth place overall, so to secure fourth is really great. I take my hat off to the organisers and marshals for putting on a very good and highly enjoyable event.”
Meanwhile Yokohama’s other supported driver, Jerseyman Ed Fossey, also had success on the event chalking up a class win in his Peugeot 208 R2. Having secured success in the British forests last season, Fossey is gaining valuable competitive tarmac miles.
Getting off to a confident start, Fossey adapted his style to the testing route and by the halfway stage, he was holding his own against the experienced locals and more powerful cars, breaking into the top 60 out of 135 entries. By the end of stage 11, Fossey brought home the Peugeot in 52ndplace overall and most importantly a class win which propelled him to sixth overall in the championship.
Commenting on the weekend, Ed Fossey said, “Driving in Ireland is completely different to anywhere else I’ve experienced. It feels as though you’re in the air more often than you’re going round corners, and I found because of that, it was difficult to be able to feel as though I was getting a good push on. We’re sixth overall and the first two-wheel drive in the championship which is ahead of where I thought we would be in the year.”
Speaking after the event, Mark Evans, head of motorsport for Yokohama commented “Congratulations to both Daniel and Ed on their drives at the weekend. It was a really strong field with challenging and technical stages so for them both to take class wins is a real achievement.”
Both Harper and Fossey will return to action on 25thand 26thAugust at the Old Forge Garage Mewla Rally in Wales.
For more information about Yokohama’s range of competition tyres, visit ww.yokohama.co.uk.
