Official rally reports of rally driver Ryan Champion

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Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship Round 4 Phillip White Tyres Ulster Rally, 1st/2nd Sep

Champion shines before the rain

This weekend’s Philip White Tyres Ulster Rally saw Castleton’s Ryan Champion prove once again he has the pace to be the top driver in the British Rally Championship, when he lead the event at the end of the first day. However, he was unable to fulfil his true potential when conditions changed to torrential rain for day two and he and co-driver Craig Thorley, from Pocklington, retired after hitting a patch of mud and inverting their works Mitsubishi.

As well as a round of the British Rally Championship the event was also a round of the Pirelli Irish Tarmac Championship, which saw a host of World Rally Cars added to the entry list, alongside the Production specification machinery of the British series.

The rally featured 15 special stages, five on Friday evening and a further 10 on Saturday, with all of the event’s 123 competitive miles held over closed public roads not far from the rally’s host town of Armagh.

With stage one cancelled because of an accident, stage two became the first competitive test, with Champion holding third place. At this point he was headed, albeit by just over a second, by Gwyndaf Evans - also in a Mitsubishi and Mark Higgins in a Subaru, the current British Champion lucky to be in the rally at all, following an accident during a shake-down test only a few hours before the start of the rally.

Champion upped the pace on SS5 and he blasted ahead of his rivals to end the day first in the British Rally Championship standings, with team mate Rory Galligan just a few seconds behind in second place.

Although made slippery by mud and other rural extractions, the roads had remained dry on Friday – but it was a different story for Saturday, with heavy rain greeting drivers for the start of the day’s 10 stages.

Having won the opening round of the British Championship, Champion was all set to put his title hopes back on track with another top result in Ireland, but it was not to be. Half way through the first stage of the day the Yorkshireman’s car slid wide on a patch of wet mud. He controlled the slide, but the back of the car caught the hedge on the outside of the narrow lane and before they knew it, he and Thorley were upside-down. Once back onto it wheels, Champion was able to drive his Mitsubishi out of the stage, albeit with his head out of the side window as he was unable to see through the broken windscreen. However, at the following passage control the temperature gauge showed that the engine was running hotter than it should be and disappointingly, the crew had little choice but to retire.
“This is just unbelievable. I can’t remember the last time I retired from two rallies in succession – especially in this way”, said Champion. “I’m pleased we were leading the event before retiring, it shows that another win this season is well within reach but we just don't seem to have any luck on our side at the moment and no matter how well things are going, you need a bit of luck." Champion now looks towards the fifth round of the British Rally Championship, the Pickering-based Trackrod Rally Yorkshire, which takes place on Saturday 7th October in Champion's local North Yorkshire forests. Ryan commented, "The next event is my 'home' rally which I am very much looking forward to. I know the stages quite well but the competition in the British Championship is so tough this year it will be very difficult to win. But we have set fastest times on every rally this year and proved we could win on gravel on the Pirelli Rally so I'm confident of a good result."