Mitsubishi takes first overall British Rally Championship Victory

Ryan Champion and his co-driver Craig Thorley recorded the first ever overall victory for the Mitsubishi Motors UK rally team, when they won this weekend’s round one of the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, the Pirelli International Rally.

Their result was made even more rewarding as they beat seven-former British Rally Champions in what was the crew’s maiden outing for the works Mitsubishi Motors UK team.

With the new-look BRC seeing WRC cars excluded, all of the leading drivers were in similar specification Production Class machinery. So, with the competition destined to be fierce, Mitsubishi invited 2004 British title holder David Higgins and co-driver Ieuan Thomas to join Champion and team-mate Rory Galligan for this event, driving a third Lancer Evolution IX.


Starting and finishing in Carlisle, the rally comprised 114 miles of gravel surface roads, mainly in the infamous Kielder Forest, the event split into 10 special stages on Saturday and a further six on Sunday.

Mitsubishi were fastest off the blocks, with Higgins posting the quickest time on SS1 and Champion just 0.4 seconds behind in second place.

However, it was a different story for Galligan who slid wide just two miles into the first stage and dropped into a ditch. Although extricating his Mitsubishi almost immediately, a stone had found its way between the sump guard and the engine, puncturing the oil filter in the process – the subsequent leak heralding his and co-driver Greg Shinnors’ early retirement.

Somewhat shocked to find himself in third place, David’s brother and current British Champion, Mark Higgins, upped his game for stage two and edged his Subaru into the lead, his challenge helped when David’s car developed transmission problems.

After four stages and at the first service halt of the day, Champion still held second place, but team-mate Higgins had dropped to fifth, the team deciding to change his car’s front differential in the 20 minute stop. Frustratingly the job over-ran by five minutes and Higgins was subsequently penalised with a 50 second penalty, pushing him down to 11th place.

Two stages later it was Champions’s turn for misfortune, when suddenly he found he had no clutch. Although he could drive through the stage without time loss, leaving the start line was a problem and he dropped to third behind another former British Champion, Gwyndaf Evans in a Mitsubishi.

Champion held on to third place for the rest of the day and, although the team had fixed his clutch, damage had been done to fifth gear and the team elected to change the gearbox at the first service halt on Sunday morning.

In the mean time Higgins was on a charge and recorded three fastest stage times to haul himself up to sixth by close of play on Saturday.

Evans suffered similar problems to those of the Mitsubishi team’s when his Lancer needed a new clutch and he too collected penalties for leaving the service area late, resulting in Champion re-taking second place behind Mark Higgins on Sunday morning.

Then on SS12, the second of Sunday’s stages, the Subaru driver collected two punctures and suddenly Champion was in the lead. Now with victory in his sights he not only maintained his lead, but extended it - even when the sump guard parted company with his car on SS13!

Amazingly Champion recorded fastest times on stages 14 and 15, without a sump guard! After an impressive display of fast and controlled driving he crossed the line 12.8 seconds ahead of Mark Higgins and 20.6 seconds in front of Gwyndaf Evans in third.

David Higgins never gave up the chase right to the end, taking fastest time on the final stage and showing his mettle by climbing back to fourth place, giving the Mitsubishi team an excellent start to the season.

The Mitsubishi team now prepare for a change to an asphalt surface and the second round of the British Championship, the Jim Clark Rally on 7th & 8th July.

The team's three Lancer Evolution IXs are built by ADR Motorsport of Chesterfield, who are also responsible for running the cars on events. The Mitsubishi Motors UK team is supported by: Pirelli, Rampage Performance Motorparts, Shell Helix, PIAA, Speedline Corse and Performance Friction Brakes.

Ryan Champion said “I just can't believe it, the first event as a Mitsubishi works driver and we’ve won it! Although we had a few problems, so did others, but when everything was going well and it came down to a straight fight between them and us, we came out on top. I have to admit that I’m thrilled to beat so many good drivers and former champions. It’s a dream start to the season.”

David Higgins explained “Considering we had a delay on the first day I am very pleased with fourth place, especially against such tough opposition. I was also pleased to be able to set a number of fastest overall times. When I think that 10 days ago I wasn’t doing the rally, I’m really pleased to have the chance to compete this weekend and I really must thank Mitsubishi for the opportunity. I hope I will get the chance to compete on more BRC events this year.”

Rory Galligan said “It’s such a disappointing start to the season. I can't believe what happened. Nine times out of ten you can get away with a moment like we had, but it was just not our day. Other than the oil filter leak and punctures from running over something in the ditch, the car was undamaged, so had if it not lost any oil we could have continued. All I can do now is look forward to the next event.’

Paul Brigden, General Manager, Ralliart said “To win the first round of the season is a fantastic result. It’s testimony to Ryan and Craig’s skills inside the car and the rest of the team’s outside it. We came to the Pirelli looking for a win and we fulfilled our intentions. I was pleased with the performance of our cars against the opposition and we can now look forward to rest of the season with eager anticipation.”

Results
1st Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) - 1:45:37.8
2nd Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Subaru Impreza) - 1:45:50.6
3rd Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) - 1:45:58.4
4th David Higgins/Ieua Thomas (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) - 1:46:56.6
5th Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) - 1:47:16.6
6th Phillip Morrow/Daniel Barritt (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) - 1:47.30.1
7th Alistair McRae/Gordon Noble (Subaru Impreza) - 1:48:38.1
8th Julian Reynolds/Stewart Merry (Subaru Impreza) - 1:48:55.6
9th Stuart Jones/Craig Parrry (Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) - 1:49:08.1
10th Conrad Rautenbach/David Senior (Subaru Impreza) - 1:49:15.9

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg