Chris Ingram and Alex Kihurani delivered a master class in tough conditions to claim the spoils on the North West Stages.
On his local rally, Ingram fired his VW Polo GTi R5 into a first-stage lead and stayed there to get his Probite British Rally Championship campaign off to a perfect start. “We had such a great run over the first two stages and that was the gap we needed,” said Ingram after his second win on the rally.
Meanwhile, James Williams bagged maximum Protyre Asphalt Rally Championship points as the two championships came together to provide a stellar entry list.
This closed-road rally in the lanes of Lancashire was a ferocious test and ever-changing weather made the technical stages even tougher. A series of heavy accidents forced stage stoppages and cancellations across the morning leg and while the top seeds tackled three of the morning’s five stages, half the field didn’t get a stage in. The new Crossgill stage was lost in the morning after a handful of cars had gone through, apparently after confusion over the exact location of a tractor.
However, the hard-working organisers regrouped and ran the afternoon leg as
