INGRAM AND KAJETANOWICZ TAKE ERC TITLES AS GRYAZIN WINS
Manchester driver wins after four years of trying.
Chris Ingram started leg two of Rally Liepaja, the 2017 ERC finale, with a mountain – or rather 25.4s – to climb.
Team-mate Jari Huttunen, Hyundai’s new WRC2 recruit, was in front and heading to the European Junior title that had eluded the Briton since 2014.
Unable to live with the Finn through the rain-affected and increasingly rutted Saturday stages, Ingram’s pursuit of the crown – and the £90,000 championship promoter Eurosport Events will put towards an R5-mounted ERC Junior Under 28 campaign in 2018 – was beginning to wither.
At the finish of Sunday morning’s first test, Ingram was sounding like a man heading for defeat, having lost the title in Latvia last year.
“That was unbelievably tricky, not a good stage at all, really bad,” Ingram said. “I was having moments everywhere, the road was an absolute mess.”
But there was a silver lining a few metres up the road in the shape of Huttunen’s stranded Opel Adam. The German machine had picked up two punctures.
With one spare on board, two stages and a lengthy road section before service in Liepaja, Ingram had a chance. Although the reality of the situation was taking time to register.
“That’s bizarre, I don’t know what to say about that to be honest. I’m in shock,” said Ingram, who was now 47.4s ahead of Huttunen, a margin that would increase to 1m37.4s by the time he reached service.
“Jari’s pace was fierce and I struggled to match him, especially on the rough stages,” he said later. “But then he had a lot of bad luck, which was crazy but I’ve been unlucky as well this year. I knew today was going to be tricky with difficult stages but I had faith.”
With SS10 cancelled to allow rescue crews to attend the scene of a helicopter accident close to the stage finish, Ingram not only had the faith but just two stages to complete and a tidy lead. Although Huttunen hit back with two fastest times, Ingram finished the season 1m06.9s and 17 points ahead of the Finn, his three wins from six starts decisive and making up for a tricky mid-season spell, which included co-driver Elliott Edmondson departing and Ross Whittock recruited for the final two rounds.
Nikolay Gryazin’s wait for major ERC success was also over. The Russian, who turned 20 on the first day of the rally, held off Kalle Rovanpera for his first outright win, a result that, according to co-driver Yaroslav Fedorov, more than made up for his Acropolis exit in June when an inferno engulfed their Skoda while they were leading nearing the end of the first day of running.
Rovanpera, meanwhile, impressed on his full ERC debut, which also marked his first run in an M-sport Ford Fiesta R5 in competition. With rain, wind and mud lashing the Latvian stages, the event represented ideal preparation for Rally GB, where the 17-year-old will make his world championship debut later this month.
While Gryazin celebrated, Kajetan Kajetanowicz’s capture of a record-breaking third consecutive ERC crown was marred when it emerged a close friend had been killed and one seriously injured in the downed helicopter. Distraught, the Pole withdrew.
Bruno Magalhaes, his title rival, crashed on the same fast and flooded right-hander on the Liepaja City Stage, that also claimed Alexey Lukyanuk, on Saturday evening.
Lukyanuk had led the event before electrical issues struck.