The 2019 European Rally Champion Chris Ingram has announced a six-round WRC3 program starting on Rally Croatia later this month.
The 26-year-old will drive a Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo prepared by SXM Competition in Belgium on six WRC rounds this season before stepping up for a WRC2 assault next year along with his regular co-driver Ross Whittock.
Ingram drove a Renault Clio Rally5 to third in class at November’s Canaries Rally but hasn’t competed in a four-wheel drive car since he clinched the ERC title in Hungary, 2019.
This season is all about Ingram finding his feet in a Fabia again.
“I’ve not driven a powerful rally car since November 2019,” he said. “All the [WRC] events I’m planning to do will be new for me, it’s a new team and I’m up against the best drivers in the world.
“I know it’s not going to be easy but I’ve never had it easy in my career. I’m looking forward to facing all of the challenges head-on as always and I feel confident in the knowledge I have a fantastic team around to support Ross [Whittock, co-driver] and myself.”
Despite this being Ingram’s 12th year competing in rallying, he’s only tackled eight rounds of the world championship – and only two of those have been outside his native Britain (Germany and Turkey).
“Experience is so important in the WRC,” he said. “And you only get experience by getting to the finish of each event you start. So, in year one, the objective is to keep a calm head, not do anything stupid, learn as much as possible and complete as many kilometres as possible. Points and podiums on top of all that would be a massive bonus, but there’s no pressure on me to do that. The only pressure is to get myself in a position where I can go for top results in year two.”
Running under the Rally Warrior moniker, Adam Shore is the team director.
“Chris has battled for several years to finance his career,” Shore said. “We felt the desire to step in and make sure Chris and Ross are given the chance at WRC which they deserve. They exemplify resilience and outstanding performance, and fans really want to see these rising stars compete.”
While Ingram is heading to WRC3, the man he beat to the 2019 ERC crown, Alexey Lukyanuk will return to the ERC aboard a Citroën C3 Rally2 and he’ll go in pursuit of his third ERC title in four years.
