22-year-old William Crieghton drove his Ford Fiesta R2 to a victory in the Cambrian Rally with a margin of 22.5 seconds from the nearest rival.
Creighton impressed everyone with his performance and now he and co-driver Liam Regan lead the single-make series of Junior BRC.
He was runner-up in the championship in the last two years, and now makes the transition to a Ford with the championship mirroring the JWRC with cars solely built by M-Sport Poland. He has previously had success while behind the wheel of a Peugeot 208 and has secured titles in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, Irish Forestry and FIA Cletic Trophy.
Having only recieved the Ford Fiesta a few days earlier, the pressure was to adapt to his new surroundings, with only a short test available before the rally.
At the opening stage, Creighton finished with a fourth-best time and was around six seconds behind the class leader. Despite a lack of seat time in the car he fought back and was fastest on the next stage, which moved him up a position.
At the Great Orme stage he climbed to the top and took command of the class and now he has secured a class victory at the season premiere.
“It’s unreal to win the first round, it’s been a really steep learning curve today and the hardest part has been knowing where the pace is and where I can push or where I can’t.” Creighton said.
“The Fiesta is so very different from the Peugeot and I must admit after the first stage of the day I had a chat with Liam [Regan], and we pressed the reset button. As every mile passed, the confidence grew, and it was all about adapting to the car”.
“It’s the perfect start to our season but just as important to me is that there is more to come, and we haven’t reached anywhere near the full potential.”
“There is more work to do all-round, but it is very positive. The team have worked so hard this week to get us here and everyone has really pulled together to make this season happen. We have to go away and carry this forward to West Cork”. Creighton added.
