James Ford and Neil Shank claimed overall victory at this year’s Salford Van Hire Neil Howard Stage Rally at Oulton Park in their Citroën C3 Rally2 with a time of 52m23s.
Facing eight gruelling stages that featured a water splash, sections of the circuit run in reverse and off-road areas, the pairing of Ford and Shank mastered the conditions to build an early lead in the timings, winning the first six stages. The pair finished second in the final two stages, maintaining their leading margin to secure a dominant rally win.
The team of Michael Igoe and Will Atkins claimed the final two stage wins of the day after finishing second to Ford and Shank in every stage up until that point. The pair were also driving a Citroën C3 Rally2, finishing second in the overall stage results, 28 seconds behind Ford and Shanks.
In third was the Ford Fiesta Rally2 of Ryan Burns and Harry Walshaw, a further two minutes off the lead, followed closely by the Darrian T90 of Joshua Davey and Tamsyn Davey. Rounding out the top-five were John Stone and Alex Stone in their VW Polo GTI R5, with the gap separating third and fifth position just five seconds.
Salford Van Hire Neil Howard Stage Rally results:
- James Ford/Neil Shanks, Citroën C3 Rally2, 52m23s
- Michael Igoe/Will Atkins, Citroën C3 Rally2, +28s
- Ryan Burns/Harry Walshaw, Ford Fiesta Rally2, +2m6s
- Joshua Davey/Tamsyn Davey, Darrian T90, +2m9s
- John Stone/Alex Stone, VW Polo GTI R5, +2m11s
- Kiaran Hankin/James Swallow, Citroën C3 Rally2, 2m11s
- Wil Owen/Chloe Thomas, Ford Escort MK2, 3m4s
- Michael English/Lewis English, Ford Fiesta Rally2, 3m13s
- Stefan Davies/Ben Duke, Ford Escort MK2, 4m18s
- Philip House/Nick Beaumont, Ford Escort MK2, 4m30s
To view the full stage results, click here.