Ross Whittock, Radstock’s rally co-driver alongside Chris Ingram, the 22-year-old from Manchester driving the Toksport Skoda Fabia R5, produced an incredible result in Rally Turkey, a round of the World Rally championship.
This event was completely new to them and also it was the first time they have competed at this top level in the four-wheel-drive car. This three-day event, which started and finished in Marmaris, the Turkish Riviera holiday resort, covered some 320km of special stages over rough, twisty gravel roads in the late summer heat of 32°.
The rally started on Thursday evening with a short spectator stage through the city streets watched by thousands of fans. Friday morning the action started with a vengeance in a 38km twisty rough section, and this was how it was going to continue throughout. Many of the top World Rally Championship cars started to have problems on one of the toughest rallies in recent memory, as they returned to Turkey for the first time since 2010.
After Friday’s Leg One they ended the day trouble-free and second in the WRC 2 category, behind Skoda factory team driver, Kopesky. Saturday’s stages were slightly different but remained very challenging. They took the lead in the category. However, on the last stage of the day, they picked up a puncture and drove for some 8km on a flat, losing some two minutes and dropping to third. With Sunday still remaining and not enough competitive mileage to make a difference, they maintained their strategy to the finish, with third in the category and ninth overall. Event winner was Toyota’s Ott Tanak, who completed a hat-trick of World Rally Championship event wins in Rally Turkey, capitalising on the retirement of title rivals Sebastien Ogier of M-Sport and Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville.
The result of Ross and Chris was a great achievement, but with no rest as they start work this week to compete in the European Championship event in Poland this coming weekend, followed by Rally Wales GB, another round of the WRC.