The Castrol MEM Rally Team will resume their challenge for the 2024 Probite British Rally Championship drivers’ and teams’ titles when Chris Ingram and Meirion Evans contest the Voyonic Grampian Forest Rally (9/10 August) for the first time in a pair of Toyota GR Yaris Rally2s.
Chris was the early leader of the BRC and heads to Scotland lying second in the standings, 14 points behind William Creighton.
Co-driven by Alex Kihurani, the Suisscourtage/Michelin-backed driver arrives in Aberdeenshire on great form, having won first time out in the Yaris Rally2 on the Nicky Grist Stages, which he contested as a gravel test event. And whilst Chris has never rallied in the Kincardineshire forests before, the challenge of tackling new stages for the first time is something he always excels at.
Meirion has been to the Banchory-based rally three times before to run cars as part of his family-owned Melvyn Evans Motorsport team, and this will also be his first attempt at contesting the Grampian Forest Rally.
The Carmarthenshire driver arrives there lying seventh in the standings, only four points off fourth and 10 points away from third. Co-driven by Jonathan Jackson, Meirion had a good test on last month’s Builth Wells-based Nicky Grist Stages, finishing a trouble-free third as they continue to become more competitive on the relatively unfamiliar gravel surface.
Chris Ingram said: “As we head into the second half of the BRC season we are feeling very motivated to secure maximum points for our championship aspirations. I have never been up to the Grampian Forest Rally before, but it promises to be a great challenge. I love going to new events and tackling new stages for the first time as Alex and I make such great notes. I think the loose gravel should suit the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 very well. Now Meirion and I are in the same machinery it should give us an advantage as we can compare data in detail and fine tune our gravel set-up.”
Meirion Evans said: “The aim for us on the Grampian is to try and get a good rhythm and some pace early on and see where we end up. I just want to improve on gravel compared to where we were on our last BRC outing. We had a good test run on the Nicky Grist Stages and compared to Chris and Keith [Cronin] we’ve halved the gap per kilometre to where we’d been on the Rallynuts, and it felt so much more comfortable as well. If we keep on improving on gravel like that then the gap will continue to get smaller and the results will come. We also need a solid points score for the teams’ and drivers’ championship and then we can focus on Rali Ceredigion, where we’ll be back on asphalt and were I think we can be strong.”
