The Castrol MEM Rally Team is heading to Scotland this weekend for Round 3 of the Probite British Rally Championship – with the aim of extending its lead in both the Teams’ and Drivers’ standings on the Beatson’s Building Supplies Jim Clark Rally (24/25 May).
The team has already shown its strength on asphalt by scoring a double podium finish on the opening North West Stages – with Chris Ingram/Alex Kihurani winning and Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson coming home third. Building on that performance, a significant amount of preparation has gone into its attempt at repeating that outstanding result on the closed country lanes of Berwickshire this coming Friday and Saturday.
Whilst the North West Stages was Meirion’s first rally in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, the Jim Clark will be his fourth – having contested the Carlow Stages Rally last weekend as a test. Co-driven by Jonathan Jackson, he finished third on what was the car’s Irish rally debut and Meirion arrives in the Scottish Borders fifth in the BRC drivers’ standings, just two points off third.
Chris arrives in Scotland on top of the BRC drivers’ points table. The Suisscourtage-backed pilot has only contested the Jim Clark Rally twice before, and the last time was way back when he won the Twingo R2 Trophy there in 2013. He has a considerable amount of asphalt rally experience, including at FIA World and European Rally Championship level, and he’ll be keen to build on his BRC lead in his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5.
Meirion Evans said: “Going to Carlow was good to learn a bit more about the Yaris and to get more miles under our belt, but with one eye on this weekend’s Jim Clark it wasn’t the time or the place to go flat out and risk anything, so we were happy just to try and few things and get to the finish. I’m looking forward to this weekend’s BRC event. The weather forecast is for the rain to stop before the rally starts, so we’re hoping for a good clean fast and dry run over the two-day event.”
Chris Ingram said: “The Jim Clark Rally is a real classic and an important event in the British calendar. Meirion and I both performed well on our first asphalt event of the year on the North West Stages, securing a double podium for the Castrol MEM Rally Team. Our asphalt pace is clearly strong, so I’m confident about our chances. I had the honour of sitting in one of Jim Clark’s 1962 Lotus Type 25 race winning cars at the Monaco Historic Grand Prix, which was a moment of pure inspiration heading into his memorial rally.”
This year’s Jim Clark Rally is divided into two legs, with 6 stages / 39.78 stage miles taking place on Friday 24 May (three stages of which will be run in darkness) and 8 stages / 47 stage miles on Saturday 25 May. The finish ceremony will be held in Duns Square at approx. 14:30 after all 14 stages / 86.78 stage miles have been completed.
