Official rally reports of rally driver Ryan Champion

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Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship Round 2 Jim Clark International Rally – 7th & 8th J

Another Champion Performance!

Fresh from his victory in round one of the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship in May, Castleton driver Ryan Champion and his co-driver Craig Thorley from Pocklington, finished third in this weekend’s round two of the UK’s premier rally series, the Jim Clark International Rally, in only his second outing as a Mitsubishi works driver and his first asphalt rally with the team.
Starting from Kelso in the Scottish Borders, the event began on Friday afternoon with six stages on closed public roads north of the town. With the two works Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IXs having just had the latest specification brakes fitted, both Champion and his Mitsubishi team-mate Rory Galligan spent the first loop of three stages getting the feel of their new found stopping power.
Champion immediately challenged for the lead, battling with Galligan, Mark Higgins (Subaru) and Guy Wilks (Suzuki), but lost time when he overshot a junction on SS4 and had a spin in SS5 where he had to reverse losing ten seconds. Never the less, Ryan ended the the first day in a strong fourth place.

Saturday saw a further 15 stages in the Berwickshire countryside and the start of an epic battle for the lead between Galligan and Higgins. Champion started the day 22 seconds behind Galligan who had edged ahead. The Yorkshireman was now on mission to make up for lost time and on stage 10 overhauled Wilks to take third.
As the day progressed, the speed and commitment from the leading trio increased dramatically and although posting a fastest overall time on SS14 and hardly putting a foot wrong all-day, Champion could not close the gap between him and the battling duo ahead, even though he swapped stage times with them throughout the day.

Unbelievably, after 150 miles of competitive driving, Galligan crossed the finish line on exactly the same time as Higgins, but unfortunately for the Mitsubishi driver, he was relegated to second because Higgins was faster on the first stage. Champion claimed third place and at the finish in Kelso he said: “It would have been a tall order to catch the leading pair, but if either of them had made a mistake I was right there to take advantage. I also wanted to make sure I reached the finish, score points and keep my quest for the Championship on track. Once I had got used to the brakes and the car’s handling on tarmac I was very pleased with my times. I learnt a lot about how to get the most out of car this weekend, so I’m really looking forward to the next round of the Championship in a few weeks time.”

The next event, to which Champion refers, is the Isle of Man International Rally – another all-asphalt affair, which takes place on 3rd, 4th & 5th August.
Overall Results 1st Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Subaru Impreza) – 2:09:27.3 2nd Rory Galligan/Greg Shinnors (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) – 2:09:27.3 3rd Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) – 2:10:12.2 4th Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Suzuki Ignis S1600) – 2:10:24.4 5th Stuart Jones/Craig Parry (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) – 2:12:43.2 6th Conrad Rautenbach/David Senior (Subaru Impreza) – 2:14:18.8 7th David Wright/Shelly Rogerson (Subaru Impreza) – 2:14:39.1 8th Neil McCance/Sean Moriarty (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) – 2:15:48.1 9th Roman Kresta/Petr Gross (Ford Fiesta S1600) – 2:16:53.2 10th Robert Swan/Joanne Oakey (Subaru Impreza) – 2:19:22.1