2025 DMC Championship Autotest

Hampered Ferguson still wins at Loughry.

It was painful to watch as Steven Ferguson experienced a massive power loss on all four runs over test one at the DMC, McMillan Specialist Cars Championship Autotest on Saturday 2nd August.  Just as the all-conquering Mini-special would be called on for maximum power, it would sound like it dropped on to two cylinders and crawl through the rest of the test, sometimes threatening to stall.  

With no obvious cause identified, Steven would have to approach the remaining tests with a lighter foot.  After four runs over test two he was up to second place behind arch-rival Peter Grimes, and at the end of all 12 tests was winner by just a tenth under four seconds.

Early leader after those four runs over test one was Ashley Lamont in his Stryker sports car, closely followed by Mark King in his Vauxhall Nova.  In a competition often decided by tenths of seconds, Steven Ferguson’s deficit of over 10 seconds looked like a massive challenge, even for the multiple NI Champion.

As luck would have it, the second test was tight and twisty with no long runs on maximum throttle, and Steven was able to use all his talent to set fastest time on all four runs.  This brought him to just 1,5 seconds off the leader, now Peter Grimes.  Test three was also devoid of full throttle stretches, enabling Steven to again set fastest time on all four runs and and take the lead of the event.  A tremendous come-back drive, worthy of the Champion that he is.

Meanwhile in the classes, Ashley Lamont would pip Andrew Blair in the sports car class and snag third place overall on the day, with Paul Lowther third in class. Robin Lyons would dominate the small saloon class and take fifth fastest time of the day into the bargain.  Despite a heavy contact with a wall, Jack Lowry would take the runner-up spot to Robin with Andrew Earney third.

In the large saloon class, Mark King was on course for a penalty free day until the very last run over test three.  A maximum time penalty, thanks to a broken main shaft in the gearbox, didn’t put his class win in any kind of danger, but probably cost him a place in the top four overall.  Scottish visitor Paul Davidson in the interesting 3-cylinder Seat Mii was runner up in the class despite a broken engine mounting during the day.  Series sponsor, George McMillan, was third in the class.

In the Clubman Category Harry Wilson drove his Mini to the win, and Robert Robinson again took the Advanced Category in his beautifully prepared Mini Special, with Jordan Burns in second place in his Ford Fiesta special.

Full Results can be found here ===> DMC Autotest