INGRAM CEMENTS HIS PLACE IN THE RECORD BOOKS WITH EURO TITLE
Skoda driver overcomes last-stage drama to claim European Rally Championship
Newly-crowned European Rally champion Chris Ingram says he hopes his title triumph will help him secure sufficient budget to continue his career after funding issues threatened to curtail his 2019 season.
Alongside co-driver Ross Whittock, Ingram became the first British driver since Vic Elford in 1967 to win the ERC on last weekend’s Rally Hungary finale, beating the 2018 champion Alexey Lukyanuk by nine points after a dramatic final stage during which both suffered punctures.
Now Ingram, who turned to a crowd funding project to raise money to complete the season, is hopeful of increased support ahead of the 2020 season.
“This year has been such a struggle,” Ingram told Motorsport News. “There’s been so many times in my career that I’ve thought it was all over. Being in the right place at the right time has helped, but I think winning the championship puts me in a different light and hopefully allows me to carry on. It proves a lot to everyone, to win the championship with no budget.”
Ingram won the ERC3 Junior Under 27 title in 2017 before narrowly missing out on the ERC1 equivalent in the following two years. Indicative of how little budget Ingram had in 2019 was the fact that he and Whittock managed just 20 miles of testing in their Skoda Fabia
R5, compared to the hundreds of some of his nearest rivals.
“People involved in rallying but not necessarily competing don’t understand, they just think ‘he’s had loads of opportunities, he should be going quicker if he wants to get to the WRC’ but they have no idea,” he added.
Ingram’s title hopes hung in the balance throughout the course of Sunday’s second leg, which was affected by severe rain in the morning loop, with the 25-year-old, son of former driver Jon Ingram, suffering a spin and a puncture before service.
A front-right deflation on the final stage looked to have extinguished his chances, only for Lukyanuk to also suffer a similar problem.
“We’ll never have another moment like that in our lives. We didn’t know we’d won it for like, 20 minutes or so. We got a puncture, we thought we’d lost it all, then Alexey, we found out he’d got a puncture…oh my, it’s just the most ridiculous, mental finish of a rally.”
In summing up his title-winning season, Ingram believes that his performance on the Barum Zlin rally in the Czech Republic was critical to turning his campaign around.
“I felt like the first half of the season was a bit like a nightmare,” said Ingram. “And it wasn’t until Barum where I was on the back foot and nearly lost everything that my pace came back and I sort of turned a corner and realised I’d just been putting way too much pressure on myself.
“So, when I relaxed, it sort of came back and we were lucky to get second in Cyprus. I think the last three rallies really turned things around. I’m just so, so pleased I’ve done it.”
Co-driver Whittock reckons the performance of Ingram on the often treacherous stages was the best he has seen him drive.
“I think losing out on that Junior title [in Zlin to Filip Mares] was tough on Chris, but it motivated him more to try even harder and this rally is probably the best rally he has ever driven,” explained Whittock. “These conditions were so tough, the skill he has shown is just unbelievable to be honest.”