INGRAM MASTERS TOUGH STAGES TO TAKE BRC LEAD
Local superstar wins event for the second time on a challenging rally which opened the headline season in the UK. By
Chris Ingram and Alex Kihurani delivered a master class in tough conditions to claim the spoils on the North West Stages.
On his local rally, Ingram fired his VW Polo GTi R5 into a first-stage lead and stayed there to get his Probite British Rally Championship campaign off to a perfect start. “We had such a great run over the first two stages and that was the gap we needed,” said Ingram after his second win on the rally.
Meanwhile, James Williams bagged maximum Protyre Asphalt
Rally Championship points as the two championships came together to provide a stellar entry list.
This closed-road rally in the lanes of Lancashire was a ferocious test and ever-changing weather made the technical stages even tougher. A series of heavy accidents forced stage stoppages and cancellations across the morning leg and while the top seeds tackled three of the morning’s five stages, half the field didn’t get a stage in. The new Crossgill stage was lost in the morning after a handful of cars had gone through, apparently after confusion over the exact location of a tractor.
However, the hard-working organisers regrouped and ran the afternoon leg as planned, giving all crews at least one run over these challenging stages. Heavy rain showers swept across the event and made tyre choice difficult as crews had to leave service with tyres and set-up to cover five stages over a fairly wide geographical area.
Ingram really did all his work on the first two stages and emerged from Long Knots with a 17.4-second advantage over Keith Cronin and Mikie Galvin in their Fiesta Rally2. Cronin was one of several crews to finish Long Knots with a puncture, caused by an obscured rock in a cut on a quick left a mile or so from the stage finish.
Tyre choice was the big issue for the afternoon loop and Ingram was one many to make the wrong call. He explained:
“We made it tough because we went out on slicks this afternoon, and then it rained. Despite having hundreds of friends at this rally, nobody told me that it was raining! We were nursing a little gearbox issue as well.”
However, Ingram’s time loss was minimal and he arrived back at Garstang with a winning margin of 27s over the impressive William Creighton and Liam Regan in their M-Sport Fiesta Rally2.
Creighton said: “That's honestly one of the trickiest Tarmac rallies I've done in a long time. There was so much dirt on the road. I think we did a really good performance and the team did a fantastic job. Everything just clicked and it was a tricky day.”
Cronin’s stellar season hit a temporary glitch on a day when he had more than his share of issues. “We got a puncture on the second stage and then we had thought we had a problem on the third with the diff,” he explained. “We got that fixed but then we had no handbrake.
And then we went out on sticks in the afternoon and it was horrible.”
When things were right, he looked as quick as Ingram, so seventh overall more than two minutes adrift was not a representative result for the Irishman.
Ingram might well have had a much tougher afternoon if Osian Pryce and Rhodri Evans had gone the distance in their Fiesta Rally2. As he built pace in the car, Pryce took nine seconds out of everyone on Beacon Fell 2 and was less than five seconds down on Ingram when a throttle problem stopped the Fiesta.
With Pryce out, Welsh glory fell to Meirion Evans and Jonathan Jackson in the all-new Toyota Yaris Rally2 in third. This was a big learning experience but car and crew delivered in style, although it nearly went wrong on the Long Knots jump that later claimed
Dave Wright’s Fiesta.
Evans said: “I think the whole nation would have hated me if I bent the car after
the week we've had. It would have been nice to have the extra mileage that we lost and get some more seat time. William Creighton drove a good afternoon to get away but he took a wet and we were on a soft slick and it started to rain.”
Fourth in the BRC ranks and top of the Protyre pack were James Williams and Ross Whittock, who made it four marques in the top four in their fresh Hyundai i20 Rally2. Like many, Williams spent the day battling ever-changing weather and road conditions.
Williams said: “That was a tough day for everybody for sure. The start of the rally was difficult for me because it rained when we were on the startline of the first stage. So the guys in front had a dry road. I think we lost 20s there. With all the stoppages, the tyres just wouldn't switch on at the start of the stage so it was like driving on ice.”
One of the drives of the rally came from Neil Roskell and Dai Roberts who worked their Fiesta Rally2 into a remarkable fifth
overall in some very strong company. However, for Garry Pearson and Daniel Barritt it was a trying day as they clipped a bank damaged the radiator in the morning. They managed to get back to service and carried on in the afternoon for valuable seat time in the M-Sport Fiesta Rally2.
Graffin tops Juniors
On only his third closed-road rally and his first event in England, Northern Ireland’s Kalum Graffin claimed maximum points in the Junior BRC ranks after a day-long battle with the similar Peugeot 208 Rally4 of Robert Proudlock and Steven Brown. Graffin has crashed on West Cork a week earlier.
“After the accident in West Cork last week we just thought we were coming here to build confidence but we’ve been on the pace,” said 17-year-old Graffin who has Richard Crozier on the notes.
However, Proudlock can consider himself unlucky not have beaten Graffin to the JBRC spoils as they traded times across the five afternoon stages and on the stages they both tackled Proudlock was 7.7s up. However, following the cancellation of SS1, the running order got shuffled and Graffin went into SS2 several cars ahead of his rival. The stage was then stopped and later cancelled just before Proudlock started and the notional time he was given was 19.2 slower than Graffin’s actual time, thus handing Graffin victory by 11.4s.
“That notional time made all the difference,” said a frustrated Proudlock.
PROTYRE CLASSES
"The nation would have hated me if I bent it...”
Meirion Evans