by Russell Atkins

Last year's Mitsubishi Evo Challenge title-winner Ryan Champion has had a superb campaign in the British Rally Championship in 2006, and he topped it off by securing the runner-up spot in the end-of-season standings on last weekend's Wales Rally GB.

The Yorkshireman last competed in the daunting Welsh forests eight years ago, but if he was rusty it didn't show as he and co-driver Craig Thorley kept their heads while all around them were losing theirs to claim their third class victory of the season in treacherous conditions. Here the Whitby ace reflects on his rally and year as a whole…

Q:
It looked like you were struggling to get your Mitsubishi off the finishing stage at the end of the event in Cardiff. What happened?

Ryan Champion:
Sunday was a bit of an eventful day for us really. We spent the last two days just going for a finish and trying to keep out of trouble, driving in the middle of the road and not making any silly mistakes, and then on the last stage all that was nearly undone. The sheer volume of mud I think had clogged the radiator and it caused the car to overheat really badly. We had to stop on the stage and refill it with water once it had cooled. We then suffered engine problems on the run-in as a result of that, but we made it to the end.

Q:
How was your rally overall?

RC:
It was reasonably trouble-free for us. Our immediate rivals all had problems, so we were just trying to keep it steady. We were driving at seven or eight tenths for the last two days just to try and get to the finish. It was all going to plan until the last stage.

Q:
How happy were you with the performance of the car?

RC:
Everything was fine. We didn't really push ten tenths all rally. We were going ok on the first day, but then after Gwyndaf (Evans) had his problem we just went quite steady. We did have something like four punctures over the course of the event, but luckily enough each time we managed to drive out of the stage without having to stop and change tyres.

Q:
Did you achieve your pre-rally objectives?

RC:
Our objective was to take the top British Rally Championship points score. That's what we did, and it confirmed us as second in the British championship. We've won three rounds this year – all the gravel rallies – which is more than anyone else has done, so we are really pleased.

Q:
It's a while since you've taken part in this event too – how much has it changed in the intervening years?

RC:
It has been a long time – 1998 was the last year I did it. The event has changed quite a lot over that time. As world championship rallying his evolved it has obviously become shorter and more compact, but it's still a very tough rally.

Q:
What were the conditions like in general?

RC:
Really difficult. The surface varied from having quite good grip – albeit wet – to really muddy, slippery conditions. There was very little warning of the change in grip levels. You always had to be on your guard or else you could be off the road so easily, as we saw on the last day when there were cars off everywhere.

Q:
Looking back over your season as a whole, how happy are you with how things have gone?

RC: