PRITCHARD HAS MANX RECORD IN HIS SIGHTS
BRC regular aims to write his name in the record books next weekend
Jason Pritchard and Phil Clarke will bid for a record breaking sixth win on the Manx National Rally next weekend.
Pritchard and Clarke will probably be in the same 2005 Ford Focus WRC that took them to victory on the Isle of Man in 2014, ’15, ’16, ’18 and ’19. The national event, which will take place on May 13-14, has not run since 2019 due to Covid but Pritchard and Clarke also won the most recent event on the Isle of Man, the Pokerstars Rally last October.
With five Manx National Rally wins, Pritchard is currently tied with Kenny McKinstry but a win next weekend would make him the most successful driver in the event’s 40-year history.
The Builth Wells driver will take time out of his
British Rally Championship campaign to contest one of his favourite rallies. However, when Pritchard spoke to MN about the event he said there was a small possibility that they would take the Polo to the Isle of Man to get some extra seat time in the R5 car before resuming their BRC campaign on the Jim Clark Rally on May 27-28.
“The Manx is one event each year we really want to do” said Pritchard. “We love it. We stay at the same guest house and it is a home from home and we love going back. The island is famous for motorsport and to win there is more special than anywhere else.
“The Focus is ready as the Manx is all we’d planned for it this season, but we could take the Polo.” Pritchard’s two rallies to date in the Polo, the North West Stages and Rally Clacton and Tendring, have both ended early.
Pritchard and Clarke have dominated the Manx National in recent times and their wins in 2016, ’18 and ’19 were all by around three minutes. In 2017 they were leading by a similar margin on the penultimate stage when the ECU failed and they were stopped for six minutes before limping home in third place.