PODIUM BOOST FOR INGRAM AHEAD OF RALLY PORTUGAL OUTING
Chris Ingram’s stagewinning run to a podium finish on Rali Terras d’Aboboreira allowed him to quell the “nerves and anxiety” he endured on his return to international competition at Rally2 level on last month’s Croatia Rally.
Ahead of the Zagreb event, Ingram hadn’t competed in a Rally2 car since he won the European championship on Rally Hungary in November 2019, and admitted the time away made for a tough comeback after he finished fifth in class in a SXM Competition-run Skoda Fabia Evo.
With Ross Whittock co-driving, Ingram finished third on the Portuguese championship season opener, 11.1s behind Hyundai Motorsport’s winning
WRC2 driver Ole Christian Veiby and 8.3s down on highly rated Spanish champion Pepe Lopez.
“I struggled like never before [in Croatia] after such a long layoff and the relentlessness of rally life, aiming for perfection corner after corner, stage after stage was a huge shock to the system physically and mentally,” Ingram said. “Not much can prepare your brain for the World Rally Championship apart from driving at that level consistently and
I’ve not been doing any proper driving for a very, very long time.
“One week later, we’ve bounced back to take our first podium with the team on my first drive on gravel in almost two years against top level competition.
“Shaking off the rust, as well as beating the nerves and anxiety of that first drive back, was a bigger win than I could’ve hoped for. Bring on the next massive challenge on Rally of Portugal.”