The weekend at Wales Rally GB, Peugeot enjoyed a promising debut of the 208 R2 in the hands of 20-year-old British driver Chris Ingram who finished 39th overall and took the top prize for the front-wheel-drive cars.
Ingram and co-driver Gabin Moreau headed in to the Welsh forests with one thing in mind, go as fast as they could. “We decided to push from the very start and build up a lead. The strategy worked a treat. After the first two stages we were 30 seconds ahead of our nearest class rival and by the end of day one we had a lead of one and a half minutes. That put all the pressure on our rivals and a lot of them crashed trying to keep up.”
The young Brit is no stranger to Wales Rally GB, in 2013 he finished first in the R2 category and he put the experience to full use this year.
“I remembered from the first time I did the Wales Rally GB last year that because this is a gravel rally you have to watch out for rocks. These become more evident the more the stages are used and increase the chances of a puncture so I wanted to have a lead of at least a minute just in case we had to stop to change a wheel. As it was we did get a puncture on Saturday but we managed to keep going to the end of the stage.”
Other than the puncture Ingram enjoyed a problem free rally with the 208 R2 standing up to the punishing Welsh landscape.
“There were no dramas at all. Rallying is really hard on the car and the 208 R2 performed absolutely perfectly. Unlike the European rallies which have all been new to me, this was on home terrain. I think I was really unlucky in the last two European rallies in Switzerland and the Czech Republic but it all came together on this event.”
Ingram’s co-driver Gabin Moreau added: “We are very happy to finish this amazing season with a victory in a World Rally event. The whole team did a superb job and I had a perfect rhythm with Chris. He drove sensibly, not taking any risks, and it was enough to take a great win.”
