Chris Ingram gave the new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 its first victory in the UK when he won the 2024 Nicky Grist Stages in the Castrol MEM Rally Team car, and in doing so adds his name to a prestigious list of past winners.
Co-driven by Alex Kihurani, the 2019 FIA European rally champion finished just 14.7 seconds ahead of Keith Cronin/Shane Buckley (Ford Fiesta Rally2), while Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) completed the podium.
Builth Wells Mayor Cllr. Gwyn Davies flagged the cars away from the start outside Strand Hall, as 118 crews headed out for the morning loop of four stages.
Ingram held a slender lead as the cars returned for midday service on the Builth Wells RFC pitch and he extended that advantage when the Llyn Login. Monument, Halfway and Bowlsey stages were repeated in the afternoon.
There were tremendous battles right through the field, with Elliot Payne/Patrick Walsh (Amigos Ford Fiesta Rally2) claiming victory in the Protyre BTRDA Series section, Russ Thompson/Stephen Link (Dunnow Plant Mitsubishi Evo 9) taking home maximum points in the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship and Mark Thomas/Philip Mackay coming out on top in the Defender Rally Series UK Championship.
Mike Brown Jnr (co-driven by his sister Nikola Brown for the first time) was the first Quinton MC driver home in his LB Passive Fire BMW Compact M3, while Geraint Thomas was the club’s top-placed co-driver, having successfully guided Paul Walker (Green Paw Subaru Impreza STI N11).
Russell Thompson and Nick Dobson (Ford Escort Mk2) were joint winners of the ‘Spirit of the Rally – The Autosport Trophy Award’ for their dedication in making the start after separate accidents on their previous events.
Almost 300 volunteer marshals made sure that the event ran smoothly, on time and kept competitors and spectators safe. It was a magnificent advert for Motorsport UK’s National Motorsport Week, and anyone who would like to get involved with rallying is encouraged to look at motorsportweek.org.
The rally attracted several thousand visitors to Builth Wells and the surrounding Powys and Carmarthenshire region and the event is indebted to the wonderful support received from Powys County Council, Carmarthenshire County Council, Builth Wells Town Council, Builth Wells RFC, the businesses and residents of Builth Wells, Dyfed Powys Police and landowners, Natural Resources Wales and Defence Infrastructure Organisation Wales (on which the stages ran) in making the event such a huge success.
The Nicky Grist Stages teamed up with Carbon Positive Motorsport and it’s not too late to use the exclusive discount code to help mitigate the event’s unavoidable carbon emissions and supports the planting of over 1,500 sequioa and 6,000 native broadleaf trees in Abergavenny.
“The Quinton Motor Club team, under the direction of Clerk of the Course Neil Cross, have pulled off another brilliant rally with everything running beautifully,” said Nicky Grist.
“All the crews competing said how much they loved the event, and we are so lucky to be able to use such classic Welsh stages which everyone enjoys driving on. The Nicky Grist Stages seems to be appearing in a lot of people’s calendar year-on-year as a must do rally and everyone who puts a lot of hard work in behind the scenes to create such a good event is very grateful for that.
“Everyone knows my connection with Castrol Toyota, so I was delighted that Chris [Ingram] and Meirion [Evans] were able to do the event in a pair of Castrol MEM Rally Team Toyota GR Yaris Rally2s. We’ve had some very famous winners of the Nicky Grist Stages over the years. Malcolm and Matthew Wilson, Andreas Mikkelsen, Elfyn Evans and three-time British champion Matt Edwards to name but a few. Now we can add Chris Ingram, the 2019 European rally champion, to that prestigious list and that’s great for the rally.”
“I’m so happy to win the Nicky Grist Stages,” said Chris Ingram.
“It’s been a really fantastic event. I’ve had a great battle with Keith Cronin, and we came away with the win in the end after a strong afternoon. We got some good miles in the new Toyota and it’s great to get the Yaris Rally2’s first win on UK soil.
“A big thank you to the rally organisers, to Nicky Grist and to all the volunteers for an amazing event.”
“The team from Quinton Motor Club would like to thank the competitors, volunteers and residents along the route for their fantastic support,” said Neil Cross, Nicky Grist Stages Clerk of the Course.
“The event was another huge success, and we’re already working on the 2025 event.”
Action from the 2024 Nicky Grist Stages is available to view on the Special Stage TV Facebook and YouTube channels, plus specialstage.tv.
The 2025 Nicky Grist Stages will take place on Saturday 12 July.
2024 Nicky Grist Stages – top 10 overall finishers
1. Chris Ingram/Alex Kihurani (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)….37mins 41.0secs
2. Keith Cronin/Shane Buckley (Ford Fiesta Rally2)….37mins 55.7secs
3. Meirion Evans/Jonathan Jackson (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2)….38mins 34.4secs
4. Elliot Payne/Patrick Walsh (Ford Fiesta Rally2)….38mins 35.8secs
5. Kyle White/Peredur Davies (Hyundai i20 R5)….39mins 01.9secs
6. Vivian Hamill/Lorcan Moore (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5)….39mins 12.0secs
7. Russ Thompson/Stephen Link (Mitsubishi Evo 9)….40mins 29.4secs
8. Brendan Cumiskey/Martin Connolly (Ford Fiesta Rally3)….41mins 11.3secs
9. James Giddings/Aled Davies (Mitsubishi Evo 9)….41mins 20.3secs
10. Dan O’Brien/Mark Glennerster (Ford Fiesta Rally2)….41mins 29.4secs
The full set of results can be found here:
https://results.btrdarallyresults.co.uk/results/index.php?EventID=706&ls=2&simple