James Williams scored maximum points in the opening round of the 2025 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship after a stunning performance on the East Riding Stages.

Co-driven by Ross Whittock, the Newcastle Emlyn driver led the BTRDA sealed-surface series event from start to finish on Sunday (February 23), with his only slight hiccup coming on the shortest stage, the 1.63 mile Beverley Westwood superspecial, when he clipped a bale chicane with his Orange Amplification Hyundai i20 N Rally2.

In challenging and changing conditions, which ranged from damp, greasy and slippery in the morning to full rain and wet in the afternoon, James took the BTRDA series win by 15.3 seconds to lead the drivers’ standings after Round 1 – just as he did in 2024.

“After six months out I was a bit rusty on the morning stages, but I’m very happy to start the season by scoring maximum Protyre Asphalt Championship points,” said James.

“We clipped a chicane on the short stage – on an event like this you can’t afford to give away a tenth of a second and have to go for it, but the car turned into a sledge on a slippery section and we were lucky to get away with it. But thankfully we got through the other stages unscathed.”

East Riding Stages – top 10 registered 2025 Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship finishers were:

1. James Williams/Ross Whittock (Hyundai i20 N Rally2): 47mins 46.5secs

2. Callum Black/Jack Morton (Ford Fiesta Rally2): 48mins 01.8secs

3. Neil Roskell/Rob Fagg (Ford Fiesta Rally2): 48mins 53.4secs

4. Jason Pritchard/Phil Clark (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2): 9mins 04.3secs

5. Sam Touzel/Max Freeman (Ford Fiesta Rally2): 49mins 29.3secs

6. David Wright/Jane Nicol (Ford Fiesta R5): 49mins 41.3secs

7. Roger Duckworth/Alun Cook (Ford Fiesta R5): 50mins 06.5secs

8. Steve Wood/Kenny Hull (Citroën C3 Rally2): 50mins 19.3secs

9. Brad Cole/Jamie Vaughan (Ford Fiesta Rally2): 51mins 32.0secs

10. Stephen Simpson/Mark Glennerster (Ford Fiesta Rally2): 51mins 57.3secs

Lampeter’s Meirion Evans was joined by William Creighton (and co-driver Liam Regan) in an exciting new-look two-car Castrol MEM Rally Team in their attempt to retain the Probite British Rally Championship Teams’ title and challenge for the Drivers’ trophy.

The opening round of the BRC, the East Riding Stages on Sunday, was the team’s first outing of 2025.

For the first time, Evans’ co-driver was the experienced navigator Dale Furniss, from Llanfyllin in Powys.

“After a close battle throughout the day, we just missed out on the final podium spot,” Furniss revealed on his Instagram channel.

“Considering a few new factors, it was a solid first event.”

Meirion Evans’ assessment of the season opener was: “Overall we can be pleased with the weekend. It’s a shame to miss out narrowly on the podium, but things were good considering I’d been struggling with illness all week!”

And he seemed pleased with his new partnership: “Dale Furniss and I settled in nicely together for our first event as a pairing and there’s a lot more to come.”

He went on to congratulate his Irish team members, William and Liam, for winning on their debut in the other Yaris, helping it to make a strong start to the season for Melvyn Evans Motorsport.