The 2019 ERC champion is one point off the Probite British Rally Championship lead starting the Welsh Tarmac event – a combined ERC and BRC counter – and insists home glory is his only goal aboard the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 he shares with American co-driver Alex Kihurani.
“Winning would mean a lot to me personally but there’s still time in the future to win some ERC rallies,” said the Castrol MEM Rally Team driver. “We’ve got to focus on giving our best performance but my priority this year is the BRC title so I need to be sensible.”
He continued: “Rali Ceredigion will be a little bit like going into the lion's den – or should that be Welsh dragon’s den?! There are many fast local Welsh drivers, including my own team-mate Meirion [Evans] who has a strong chance of victory.
“It's my first Tarmac rally in the car but I do feel confident with my technique on Tarmac and my level of performance. I think I’ve taken huge strides on Tarmac in the last couple of years. From what I know about the rally it will be really fast and flowing.”
Ingram backs team-mate Evans to stake his claim for glory
Chris Ingram believes his Welsh team-mate Meirion Evans has what it takes to impress on his home round of the FIA European Rally Championship this weekend. Evans, 29, will contest JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion in a second Castrol MEM Rally Team Yaris as he looks to improve upon his runner-up placing from 12 months ago.
“He’s an absolutely great lad and he’s really quick on Tarmac,” said Ingram. “He’s won quite a few Irish events against the local guys and that’s quite a big feat. He’ll show some really good speed this weekend.”
Evans (in action above) said: “It’s a dream for me to complete on closed road stages in my home area and to do that as part of the European championship takes it to another level as well. But we can’t treat it any differently to any other rally as we have to go out and do our job, perform as well as we can, trust what we do and hope that it brings us a good result – which is what we always try to do. We’d like to be competitive against the ERC crews, and I don’t think that the BRC boys will be far away from the front anyway. Rali Ceredigion is a chance to compete against the best. It’s what we all love to do, and it’s wonderful to be able to do it so close to home.”
Chile
Poland
China