![\"\"](\"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-1.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nNeither driver had contested the event before, and it was Chris that made the better start \u2013 going into the overnight halt just four seconds off the lead in second position. The Suisscourtage\/Michelin-backed driver took the lead with fastest time on SS5 and was able to manage the advantage all the way to the finish \u2013 completing the ninth and final stage nine seconds clear of the rest of the field. It was Chris\u2019 second BRC win of\u00a0the season and the first in the Castrol Toyota.
\u00a0
Meirion\u2019s plans of getting into an early rhythm were dashed when he hit a big rock that was lying in the middle of the road on SS2, which caused a puncture. That meant that he ended day one in 11th position and had to reboot and start the process of gaining confidence on the still unfamiliar gravel surface on day two. Against tremendously fast-paced opposition, a rally-best fourth fastest time on the final stage secured a sixth-place finish \u2013 just 3.3 seconds behind fifth.<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nChris Ingram said:\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s awesome to get the first British Rally Championship win for the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and a massive thanks to the Castrol MEM Rally Team and to all of our partners. It was an extremely challenging rally, but Alex [Kihurani] and I kept our cool to take the lead and get the car to the finish against some seriously quick competition. The car ran faultlessly thanks to the Melvyn Evans Motorsport team. It\u2019s time to switch focus back to asphalt and Rali Ceredigion in two weeks\u2019 time. It\u2019s a massive opportunity for Meirion [Evans] and I with the two Castrol Yaris Rally2s in the FIA European Championship for the first time and a double header BRC round.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/image-2.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nMeirion Evans said: \u201cIt was a tricky start to the Grampian. We\u2019d planned to get into a nice rhythm on the Friday night and keep building on Saturday, but unfortunately there was a massive rock in the middle of the road halfway through the second stage. I managed to miss it with the front, but the back swung around and it clipped the rock and punctured a rear tyre. Luckily the tyre went down slowly, but the end of the stage had some fast fifth gear corners and we had to back right off and lost around ten to twelve seconds. The opening stage on Saturday wasn\u2019t our best, but from then on the feeling improved and we had a good middle loop which gave us a chance of getting back to fifth, but it didn\u2019t quite happen. I made some small mistakes on the last loop which didn\u2019t help but even then my times were okay, especially on the last two stages. The pace of the top boys was incredible and if we can set the stage times we did towards the end without a great feeling then I\u2019m confident we\u2019ll get there on gravel in time. Now it\u2019s back onto asphalt and a rally that\u2019s close to home which will be nice \u2013 and hopefully both Chris [Ingram] and I can fight for a podium finish on both days of\u00a0Rali Ceredigion\u00a0and get a good result for the Castrol MEM Rally Team again.\u201d
\u00a0
The next round of the British Rally Championship is the team\u2019s home asphalt event, the double-header JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion (30 August – 01 September).
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Castrol MEM Rally Team has given the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 its first Probite British Rally Championship victory after Chris Ingram\/Alex Kihurani won the Voyonic Grampian Forest Rally (9\/10 August), while team-mates Meirion Evans\/Jonathan […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4891,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132,32],"tags":[124,134,129,131,135,31,28,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-4889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-castrol-mem-rally-team","8":"category-customer-updates","9":"tag-124","10":"tag-alex-kihurani","11":"tag-castrol-mem-rally-team","12":"tag-chris-ingram","13":"tag-grampion-forest-rally","14":"tag-jonathan-jackson","15":"tag-meirion-evans","16":"tag-toyota-yaris-rally-2"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4889"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4894,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4889\/revisions\/4894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/176.32.230.251\/melvynevansmotorsport.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}