Chris Ingram races against the elements at the Croatia WRC2 Rally
It’s not often that we feel grateful for Manchester’s continual wet weather but growing up in one of the UK’s rainiest cities certainly helped Chris Ingram prepare for the tough driving conditions he faced at the Croatia WRC2 rally.
CarFinance 247 has been supporting Chris for the past four years and couldn’t have been prouder to see him triumph and become the UK’s first European Rally Champion for 52 years in 2019. Since then, he’s bounced back from the pandemic to take his rightful place on the world stage – and he’s already making an impact on the competition.
Despite a water-logged track and reduced visibility, Chris and his new co-driver Craig Drew put the CarFinance 247 Skoda through its paces in Croatia.
The three-day race was a fight against the elements. Chris and Craig made good ground in the early loop stages until they suffered a puncture. Even so, they were able to run 14kms on a flat rear tyre to maintain 5th position on Friday afternoon.
Saturday saw the duo take on the treacherous course with limited sets of wet tyres thanks to the previous day’s puncture, but Chris faced down the challenge with ease, achieving podium times throughout the day.
On Sunday, all the hard work of the past two days paid off with Chris and Craig setting the third fastest overall stage time of the rally, beating almost all the leading WRC1 teams despite their car being significantly underpowered in comparison.
As the weekend came to a close, the team finished in an impressive 11th place overall and came 3rd in the WRC2 Junior Category (Drivers under 30).
It’s fair to say that Chris’ skill, perseverance, and resilience behind the wheel is already paying dividends on the WRC2 circuit, and 2022 looks set to be one of the most exciting rally seasons yet! 400,000 passionate Croatian rally fans braved the weather to watch the drivers in action, and thanks to Chris and his fellow competitors, they didn’t go home disappointed.
Following the race, Chris said: “I’m proud of our performance. We delivered an incredible pace, which has given me the confidence we can be fighting for the win every time. Bring on Portugal.”