Evans enjoys first rally in new car on Tour of Epynt

Ellesmere Port based rally driver, and rally instructor, Paul Evans, competed in his new car for the first time on the first round of the Reis Asphalt Championship on the Tour of Epynt in Wales on the 9^th March 2014.

Since purchasing the Millington powered Escort from Silver Star Winner Matthew Robinson, a full conversion of the car has been undertaken from forest specification to an upgraded tarmac specification. Paul was looking forward to driving it in anger on its first event. Not phased that the first competitive outing was to be at Epynt Ranges, that has a reputation for claiming car damage if you get it even slightly wrong, Paul decided he would go for it.The rally would also see how the new set up would cope with the jumps and crests and in fact some changes were made throughout the day so the car would land nicely after thejumps as there were some strange bangs from underneath the car, and the car wasshowing signs of being unsettled on landing. Improvements were made and inPauls view an increase in ride height will be required for future events.The Accident Advice Solicitors team, including 4 times Championship winner Damian Cole, and his navigator Elliott Edmondson, met up the day before the rally to recce a verymisty and foggy ranges! Damian gave advice to Paul where to be cautious andwhere to make cuts to make the fastest possible stage times. The first 2 stages were very slippery in places but saw Paul settled in at 26th overall despite a seeding of 55. Paul even caught and overtook a Ford Focus WRC during stage 2.

Stage 3 and 4 were cancelled due to 2 serious accidents and stage 5 was a long stage, but the weather had improved and it was glorious, which assisted Paul in the choice ofmedium compound tyres. Paul found that the pace had increased during the courseof the day with it being dry and warm and unfortunately this saw Paul droppinga couple of places. Stage 6 saw the car stuttering with fuel surge. The fuel pump was switched but the car was still suffering, and all that could be done was get to the end of the 12 mile stage as quickly as possible without the car breaking down. Once in service themechanics checked the fuel pumps but with not enough time to replace them extrafuel was put in the tank and Paul rushed off to the last stage. The timedifference saw Paul was quicker by over 40 seconds which left him in 29^thposition overall but with some good championship points which is what the teamwere focusing on!  Paul is back out on the Paintworx Agbo Stages rally  on the 23rd of March held at the famous Weston Park in Staffordshire and goes head to head with Damian in his Millington powered Escort. Who will win?Paul's plan is to run on selected rounds of the Reis National Asphalt Championship to gain experience of the championship rounds and selected local rallies.

Paul has recently secured a sponsorship deal with Accident Advice Solicitors who currentlysponsor MSA Asphalt Champion Damian Cole. Accident Advice solicitorshave recognised Paul' s talent and Sue Wright from Accident Advice Solicitorsbased in Northwich Cheshire quotes -  "Paul is an up and coming rally driver and an ex professional rally instructor, and his now using his ability to achieve some excellent results. We are happy with the coverage that Damian gets but we also want to support an up and coming driver and will work with Paul so he can enter selected rounds of the Championshipplus selected local rallies.  

Paul's current sponsors Driveme, Accident Advice Solicitors, Jones Motor Company, StrataVehicle Solutions, Paintworx, Lucas Oils, Gem Driver Training, Red 5 Motorsport, APM Customs and Millington Engines are committed to supporting Paul this year on another very busy year of Rallying