The European Rally Championship is tough, and this weekend was no exception. Radstock’s Ross Whittock was competing in Round Five of the Rally di Roma Capitale in Italy, co-driving for Manchester-based Chris Ingram in the R5 Skoda Fabia 4wd.
The rally started well for them, considering Chris was facing his first event after the retirement in Canary Islands due to illness.
With a Super Special stage based in the middle of Rome on Friday night, the event kicked off with a bang, and both Ingram and Whittock put themselves in the top ten ready for the weekend action.
Saturday began in the mountains south-west of Rome, with some 100km of timed sections. By half-way through the day, Special Stage Four, Whittock was up to fourth overall and first in the under-28 category.
Bad luck struck on SS5, when a large part of a wall fell into the road in an unseen place and was struck by Ingram and Whittock at high speed, taking a front tyre off the rim and damaging the steering. They soldiered on to the end of the section, dropping some two minutes to the leader, which put them back to tenth place.
The second part of Saturday went without drama and they finished the day in eighth place. Sunday was an even longer day in terms of mileage, but for them, it was drama-free again.
At the finish late on Sunday, sixth place overall and second in the under-28 category was rewarded. This result puts Ross second in the under-28 European Rally Championship, ready for the next round in the Czech Republic in August.