Rising rally star to contest the biggest Britain has to offer

Twenty-one-year old, rising rally co-driver Chris Williams has revealed his plans for the fast approaching 2011 rallying season. Williams from Barrow, will continue to compete on the international rally scene securing a deal to compete at the highest level British rallying currently has to offer. Williams will link up with the Laffey Motorsport Team, co-driving alongside twenty-one-year old Leicestershire driver Alex Laffey in his newly acquired Ford Fiesta R2. With the total age of the crew a meagre 42 years old, the pairing will be amongst one of the youngest crews to contest the 2011 season.

Williams, who claimed four titles in 2010 including two national titles becoming champion co-driver, in the prestigious KickEnergy Fiesta SportChallenge and Runner Up Co-Driver in the British Rally Championship Challenge, will take the final step on the ’British rallying ladder’ and move on to co-drive in three of Britain’s most followed championships. Williams will contest the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship, Dulux Trade MSA British Formula Two Rally Championship and the M-Sport backed KickEnergy Fiesta SportTrophy.

The Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship, considered to be the pinnacle of British rallying, is made up of seven events. The rounds making up the championship will be: Rallye Sunseeker International (Bournemouth) 26/02; Bulldog International Rally of North Wales (Welshpool) 02/04; Pirelli International Rally (Carlisle) 30/04; Jim Clark International Rally (Kelso) 28/5, Toddsleap.com International Rally of Northern Ireland (Antrim) 20/08, International Rally Yorkshire (Scarborough) 24/09 and ending with Rally Isle of Man (Douglas) 29/10. These events ensure that the championship has an even spread across the British Isles and features both gravel and asphalt surfaces covering some of the finest stages the country has to offer.

Thanks to new regulations introduced at the beginning of 2011, the crew will qualify for the Dulux Trade MSA British Formula Two Rally Championship, an independent British Championship for crews using two wheel drive cars only. The Laffey Motorsport pairing will also qualify for the BRC Rally 2 Class Championship for up to 1600cc two wheel drive cars and finally the crew will be eligible to win a ‘yellow jersey’ in the 2011 Pirelli Star Driver competition to be in with a chance of winning a fully funded drive in the British Rally Championship in 2012.

Not only will the crew have a chance at winning the four championships mentioned above, they will also registered for the KickEnergy Fiesta SportTrophy, a one make rally championship for the Ford Fiesta R2 and Ford Fiesta ST models. The championship is organised by Cockermouth based M-Sport, the company behind the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team outfit and is considered amongst rallying circles, as the biggest ‘one make’ championship to take place within the British Isles, offering prize money to the first five finishers on each event. With the use of Pirelli control tyres and Sunoco control fuel, it ensures that all championships are hotly contested with close competition up and down the field.

Williams said, “I’ve followed the British Rally Championship for as long as I can remember and it has always been a dream to reach this level of the sport and have the chance to compete in the full championship. I’m very lucky that another massive opportunity has come my way and I’m determined to make the most of it.”

“Alex and I worked together on last years Rally Yorkshire, we had a good event and worked well together so getting used to the team and driver shouldn’t be as big of a problem as it can sometimes cause. Contesting last years BRC Challenge and Fiesta SportChallenge have given me an ideal grounding to make the step to the full BRC. Both last years series were the support championships to the British Championship, so it’s definitely given me a good idea of the key features to look out for on each individual event that we will compete in this year.”

2010 saw Williams have his most successful rallying season that was only his fourth full year of competition, a hard fact to believe with the number of achievements the young Cumbrian already has to his name and he went on to say, “Last year was an incredibly successful year on a personal scale, something I know I will be hard pushed to repeat at any time in the future. It would be nice to try and defend the titles I won but in rallying you can’t stay standing still for long otherwise you will undoubtedly be overtaken. This is the next logical step for me and is considered by some to be the ‘final rung on the ladder’ at least in British rallying.”

Williams is due to test the new Fiesta with the Laffey Motorsport team in late January and will kick off his competitive season with the Blackpool based, Legend Fires North West Stages, alongside Isle of Man driver, Peppe Planeta in his Ford Fiesta Cosworth World Rally Car. Williams also hinted he was closing in on a second deal for the 2011 season in the KickEnergy British Junior 1000 Championship alongside sixteen-year-old Welsh driver Cameron Davies. Expect further announcements to follow shortly.
– Credit: Press Release by Chris Williams.