Joe Cunningham and Joe Beer claimed overall victory at this year’s Salford Van Hire Neil Howard Stage Rally at Oulton Park in their Ford Fiesta RS WRC with a time of 54m23s.
Facing eight grueling stages that featured a water splash, sections of the circuit run in reverse and off-road areas, the pairing of Cunningham and Ford mastered the conditions to claim wins in the first two stages, before taking back-to-back wins in stages four, five and to build a strong lead that they would not relinquish.
The team of Michael Igoe and Will Atkins claimed the final two stage wins as well as a win in stage three to ensure that they kept Cunningham and Beer honest throughout the day, but it wasn’t enough with the Citroën C3 Rally2 eventually finishing second in the overall stage results, just five seconds behind Cunningham and Shanks.
In third was the Ford Fiesta Rally2 of Stephen Simpson and C. Williams, a further ten seconds off the lead, followed closely by the Škoda Fabia R5 of John Griffiths and Emma Morrison, with the top four separated by just 19 seconds. Rounding out the top-five were J. Darbyshire and B. Butterworth in their Ford Fiesta R5.
Salford Van Hire Neil Howard Stage Rally results:
- Joe Cuningham/Joshua Beer, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, 54m28s
- Michael Igoe/Will Atkins, Citroën C3 Rally2, +5s
- Stephen Simpson/C. Williams, Ford Fiesta Rally2, +10s
- John Griffiths/Emma Morrison, Skoda Fabia R5, +19s
- J. Darbyshire/B. Butterworth, Ford Fiesta R5, +1m10s
- John Stone/Alex Stone, Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, +1m22s
- Kiaran Hankin/James Swallow, Citroën C3 Rally2, +3m7s
- Alfie Threlfall/Patrick Cross, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, +3m30s
- Mark Holmes/Craig Simkiss, Ford Fiesta R5, +3m44s
- Chris Woodhouse/Lucy Wilding, Ford Fiesta Rally2, +4m22s
To view the full stage results, click here.