Harry Hunt, aged 22, has become the first British winner of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge 2WD Cup, in only his second season of rallying.
Although he is a comparative newcomer to the sport, the London-based youngster won his class twice this year on the Eurosport-backed series – an alternative to the World Rally Championship – with his latest victory securing him the title on the Cyprus Rally over the weekend.
To most people Cyprus means sun, sea and sand but to Harry and his co-driver Seb Marshall it meant twisty gravel mountain roads, littered with rocks that at times seemed bigger than Harry’s distinctive lime green Ford Fiesta R2.
The Cyprus Rally was Harry’s second win of the year, after he came top of the class on the Italian island of Sardinia in May. Over the course of a demanding year, which took in seven IRC events on both gravel and asphalt all over Europe, Harry managed to beat several more powerful cars driven by people with much more experience.
As a result, he will lift the IRC 2WD Cup for drivers of two-wheel drive cars at the IRC Awards Ceremony in Limassol tonight (Sunday) in front of international media and some of the world’s best-known rally drivers.
But there’s no time for Harry and Seb to enjoy the party as on Monday morning they head straight off to start the recce for the Rally Great Britain: the final round of this year’s World Rally Championship, where Harry has the chance to add another title to his collection. The Briton is currently leading the Fiesta SportTrophy International going into the final round, having already secured the FIA Junior World Championship Rookie Cup on the Rally of Spain last month.
It’s a massive challenge for Harry, Seb and the green Fiesta but they are all looking forward to it.
“I’ve got a lot to learn, but it’s great to finally have a title under my belt with the IRC 2WD Cup,” said Harry. “We’ve had a really enjoyable season in the IRC and I’d like to thank Eurosport for putting on such a great show this year, but naturally I was feeling a little nervous heading into today! In the end we concentrated on doing what we had to do and got the car to the finish. Just in case we did encounter any problems we had the car loaded up with spare parts but thankfully we didn’t need them, as the Fiesta has been brilliantly reliable all year. Now we need to get our heads down again and look forward to Rally GB.”
– Credit: Mediatica.