10/09/05 Park Systems Rally - Mitsubishi Evo Challenge Round 7
CHAMPION ONE STEP CLOSER TO CHAMPIONSHIP.
Ryan Champion and co driver Craig Thorley maintain the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge lead despite suffering three punctures on the weekend's Park Systems Rally .
With Colin McRae running as course opening car in a Skoda Fabia WRC, a good crowd turned out to watch the event, held in South West Scotland. The notoriously rough and rocky stages in the area were to provide drama throughout the day.
The event however started badly for Champion. A front wheel puncture in the first stage caused a few seconds to be lost but worse was to follow in the second twenty mile test. About seven miles from the end Ryan realised they had a rear puncture on the Conchango Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8. Rather than lose a lot of time stopping to change it Champion decided to carry on at reduced pace but unbelievably then picked up another front puncture! The Yorkshire crew managed to complete the stage but dropped another forty seconds to the opposition.
Champion knew the day was all about championship points though and fought his way back up the order over the remaining four stages to take a valuable third position in the Mitsubishi Challenge and an impressive sixth overall in the MSR Motorsport prepared machine.
"It was another tough day for us! The plan was to finish in the top three today which we managed but at one time I wasn't sure if we were going to make it out of stage two at all with two punctures. On the positive side though this is a strong result for the Evo Challenge and a top four finish on the final round would be enough for us to win the championship. Other than the punctures the car has been faultless and I'm looking forward to the Bulldog Rally, but as we've seen today just finishing an event can be very difficult so it is far from over yet," Ryan said.
The final round of the series, the Bulldog Rally takes place in Wales on October 22nd, with the Challenge winner receiving the much coveted drive for the Mitsubishi team in the 2006 British Rally Championship
