Ingram destroys R2 competition while British Championship regulars impress
Chris Ingram’s biggest complaint at Wales Rally GB was his lack of competition, which isn’t a bad problem to have on an event of this stature. Bringing a proper works Opel Adam to a UK forest for the first time, he excelled to finish 36th overall, and a whopping 12m24.5s ahead of the next car in the RC4 class, Raphael Astier.
The crowning glory of Ingram’s charge was his time in Aberhirnant, where visibility was anywhere from 10 to five metres depending on where the drivers ran in the darkness and fog. On that stage alone he took 57s out of Astier. He was 30th quickest through, faster than a tonne of R5 and even WRC cars, all with the benefit of four-wheel-drive to Ingram’s two. It’s not difficult to see why the Manchester driver tied up the European Junior Championship this year and he’s deserved of the R5 drives it will net him next year. Ross Whittock co-drove.
Astier was second in RC4 ahead of Italian Enrico Brazzoli, who was 18m behind Ingram. Astier and Brazzoli were the only others in WRC3.
After getting his downhill mountain biking season finished, World Cup winner Gee Atherton switched back to four wheels and took fourth in RC4 ahead of Fiesta R2T newcomer Tom Williams, godson of Richard Burns. He was second until he bent his Ford Fiesta and had to Rally2 on Sunday. Atherton enjoyed the Saturday and Sunday stages much more to continue his learning curve in a proper R2 Fiesta with turbo power.
In seventh, James Mcdiarmid/ Max Haines-messenger capped off a brilliant first year of rallying for Harper Adams University, having also competed in the BRC.
Junior BRC runners-up William Creighton/liam Regan went off on SS2 but returned to set strong times, while series rival and fellow Peugeot 208 driver Marty Gallagher hit a rock and had to Rally2. BRC regulars Alex Waterman and Nabila Tejpar, Fiesta R2 team-mates, both broke shafts but managed to finish the event.