Pure thrills and excitement: Rally stars visit Mid Wales

Chris Ingram won the fifth round but was eliminated early on Sunday (Image: JAMES WARD)

Following the sold-out afternoon ceremonial start on Aberystwyth seafront, two laps of the Promenade Road Stage were on the agenda and the short, sharp stage saw Chris Ingram set the pace with two scratch times, despite this being his debut on tarmac in the Michelin-backed Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.

While the opening day was short, Saturday offered a stark contrast with over 124km of special stages and eight tests making up the bulk of the driving competition.

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On the first stage at Brechfa, James Williams put in a masterful performance, setting a blistering pace that not only set the scratch BRC time but also the fastest time overall and gave him his first stage win in Europe.

Unfortunately, all of this was ruined at the next test when he and co-driver Ross Whittock went off the road and the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 tipped over onto its roof.

Flat tires for William Creighton and Jon Armstrong on the opening lap of the day threw the leaderboard into chaos, with positions changing with each stage.

Rali Ceredigion 2024 campaign. (Image: Tom Banks)

At halftime service, Ingram was in the lead, followed by Keith Cronin in second and Osian Pryce of Machynlleth in third.

Armstrong was the man of the hour on the repeat lap, setting the fastest BRC time in each of the afternoon's five tests, but his earlier puncture meant he was unable to finish higher than fourth.

Despite only one stage win, Ingram was uncatchable and finished the day in second place overall, earning him his third maximum BRC points of the season.

With the clocks resetting for scoring, Sunday was set to be a short, fast-paced round with just four special stages, starting with the treacherous Bethania stage.

As Ingram braked before a fast right-hand bend, the rear of his Yaris swerved, causing him to go off the road and immediately retire.

As if that wasn't enough, just minutes later Cronin clipped the inside of a wall and spectacularly rolled his Fiesta, once again throwing the BRC leaderboard into disarray.

Another scratch time from Armstrong on the rally's final stage secured him victory on paper, but he decided to arrive late for the finish control and incurred a 20-second penalty – enough to give his teammate William Creighton the sixth-lap victory and a vital top score for the Irishman's championship ambitions.

Matt Edwards managed to secure third place, with Pryce finishing fourth.

The title fight will now come to a head at the Cambrian in October, where a handful of BRC1 contenders still have a chance of securing the crown.