CHRIS INGRAM
European champion says rallying needs to go to the people
This year has certainly been a weird one for rallying. No rallies have run since the beginning of March and a lot of drivers, me included, haven’t driven a single kilometre since last year. But in times of adversity we must look to change things and I feel now is the perfect time for UK rallying to take a look at itself and improve.
At the moment, there is a lack of structure in some parts of our sport with too many similar events and not enough opportunities for young drivers to get involved. In my opinion James Williams and George Lepley are the brightest young drivers in the UK at the moment but neither of them have really had the chance to properly progress and show the world what they can do.
There aren’t enough youngsters wanting to become rally drivers and that’s concerning, particularly when you compare things to 15 or 20 years ago. Even for me, I feel that if I was five years older I could be in a similar position to Elfyn Evans but opportunities have been more limited for me so what hope does the next generation have in the next five years?
If you look at Motorsport Ireland and what it’s doing with its Rally Academy; it’s perfect. But nobody’s stepping up and doing that in the UK. Callum Devine, who I will be competing against in the European Rally Championship, will receive great support through the scheme this year which will be of huge value. And it has a whole load of other young drivers that have a good opportunity to progress thanks to Motorsport Ireland’s help.
I’m very lucky that I’ve found a team in Toksport that believe in me and wants to help me get to the next level, but what hope do young British drivers have when there’s no-one in the UK backing them?
Streamlining the British Rally Championship and offering a bigger incentive to win the main R5 class would help. Ypres was a great addition to the BRC but more could be done. Having a round of the ERC in Britain, like we used to have with the Circuit of Ireland, would be a massive benefit too. If it’s possible, this should be a priority for Motorsport UK as it will bring huge tourism money and give some of our local stars the chance to shine on a bigger stage.
Closed-road rallying has been the big positive over the last few years. It’s the best news we’ve had for ages and we need to capitalise on that. I’m seriously considering entering the North West Stages or the Jim Clark Rally in something like a Subaru Impreza S12B WRC soon. I’ve had a couple of conversations and that would be just something else.
These rallies are the future as it’s important that we bring rallying to the public and not hide away in the forests. If we had a closed-road rally as the British World Rally Championship round for example it would be so commercially appealing and would be much more accessible to loads more people.
Sadly I think Wales Rally GB has lost some of its charm – people outside of the UK don’t seem to care about it anymore – so either a permanent or a rotational move to a closedroad event would be mega. Whether they can take the rally across the UK again like they used to I’m not sure, but the British round of the WRC used to be the biggest spectator event in the country and it definitely isn’t now.
I worry that no young drivers will be interested in rallying. This is the best sport on the planet and the UK was one of its founding fathers, so it goes hand in hand. Since Colin Mcrae and Richard Burns, rallying has been neglected in the UK. Elfyn Evans is second in the WRC yet nobody who’s not a rally fan knows who he is outside of Wales. We all need to come together to save the future of UK rallying.
Speaking of coming together though, I want to sign off by mentioning the
MN Chris Ingram Rally Challenge on
DIRT Rally 2.0. I was blown away by the camaraderie and the competition within the series, it was such good fun. I’ve had quite a few people asking me if we’re going to do another one. Watch this space!
“We all need to come together to save the future of UK rallying”