Radstock’s Ross Whittock extended his lead in the British Rally Championship this weekend on the famous Ypres Rally, based around the town of Ieper. Ross, co-driving for Junior driver, James Williams, from Newcastle Emlyn, dominated the Junior and overall R2 class (front-wheel drive) from the start.

The rally started on Friday, which contained nine special stages – 92km on the narrow closed public roads of the area. James and Ross returned with a healthy lead overall of 8.5 seconds from German Junior, Jochan Wagemans, in a Peugeot.

Leg Two on Saturday started how it was to continue, with blue sky and rising temperatures. With thirteen special stages amounting to 186km remaining, anything could happen. The fight commenced, but on SS13, James and Ross spun and collected a puncture, which demoted them to third. However, by SS15, bad luck started to affect most crews as the pace got heated and James and Ross took the lead again, which they maintained until the finish.