Official rally reports of rally driver Ryan Champion

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Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship Round 5 Rally Yorkshire – 6th October 2007

PUNCTURE DENIES CHAMPION TRACKROD PODIUM

Ryan Champion’s hopes of repeating his Trackrod Rally Yorkshire victory of 2006 evaporated when a puncture half way through the long Langdale stage cost him over four minutes and scuppered any chance the Castleton driver had of success.

Returning to the sport after an enforced six month sabbatical, Champion was hoping to drive the latest Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 on his home event but when the proposed deal fell through at the eleventh hour, he made a last minute switch to a Prodrive built Morgan Motorsport Subaru Impreza N12 on the Pickering-based Rally.

Despite never having driven the car before and being in a Subaru for the first time in four years, Champion and co driver Craig Thorley from Pocklington were soon in the groove on the opening two stages in Dalby to emerge in fourth place and they held station through the Gale Rigg and Cropton tests to arrive at the first service just behind current British Champion Mark Higgins in a similar Subaru.

A quick blast around the Showground spectator stage saw them then head off to Langdale which is where disaster struck for the Procter’s Coaches backed pairing, when eight miles into the stage, a front puncture caused them to stop and change the offending wheel, dropping four minutes in the process and relegating them to 14th overall.

Bitterly disappointed, Champion fought back in typical fashion with a string of top five times through the remaining stages but in the end, had to settle for a tenth place finish.

“Having not driven competitively for six months and not driven a Subaru for three years, I felt a little rusty to start off with as we had no testing. The car was easy to drive though and I was please to be fourth from the start as the two factory Mitsubishi's definitely have a power advantage over the opposition. Looking at the results a podium finish was there for the taking but the puncture put paid to that. I'm so disappointed as a lot of people helped me to do this rally and I’d especially like to thank Proctor's Coaches and Extreme Rally for supporting me on the event. I’m sorry I couldn’t repay them with a good result. I must also say a a big thank you to Phil Morgan at Morgan Motorsport for helping me put a last minute deal together to use one of his Subaru's. The car was 100 % reliable and a credit to the team," Ryan commented.
Champion is not sure as to when his next competitive outing will be although he is hoping to make an appearance at the Northallerton Automobile Club organised Christmas Stages Rally at Croft Circuit on December 29th.