Motorsport News – July 17, 2019

Flyinghigh:Lepleyhastakenback-to-backSilverStarcrowns

Williamswillmakestepup

McEr

JBRC

stand

Dominantwincameon

YpresRallyforWilliams

8 TH & 9TH NOVEMBER

WWW.MANXAUTOSPORT.ORG/

POKER-STARS VOLUNTEERS WANTED

The 100 plusmiles stagerallywill takeplace over

many of the Isle of Manʼs iconic stages that have

just been used on this yearʼs Nationalevent. They

include Keristal,Ronague, St Marks,Druidale,

Staarvey and everyoneʼs favourite Baldwinʼs.

FirstBillyColemanAwardnominationof 2019 goestoMcErlean SilverStartitle

JoshMcErleanhas clinchedbyLepley

becomethefirstdriverto

benominatedforthe 2019

BillyColemanAward.

Hisnominationfollows

back-to-backwinsin

theJuniorBritishRally

Championshipwhichcame

ontheWestCorkandPirelli

Internationalrallies.

It putsthe20-year-old

eightpointsclearfrom

fellowNorthern

Irishman,William

Creighton.

“Iamhonouredtobe

thefirstnomination

of2019,”McErlean,a

formerBritishandIrish

Junior 1000 champion,

toldMotorsportNews.

“Theawardis somethingI

havealwayslookedtowards

asa youngdriver.Gettingto

thispointhasrequireda lot

ofhelpanda lotofsupport.

“Theaimatthebeginning

oftheseasonwasto

wintheJunior

BritishRally

Championship

andwefind

ourselves

firmlyinthemix

attheminute.

“Hopefullywe

cankeepourtitle

aspirationsalive

bysecuring

another

positiveresultonthe

UlsterRally.”

Twomorenomineeswill

beshortlistedduringthe

year,withthehighest-placed

JuniordriversfromtheIrish

NationalRally,IrishForestry

andJuniorRallyseries

joiningthemalongwith

a wildcard.

Theoverallwinner,whowill

beannouncedatMotorsport

Ireland’send-of-season

awardsdinnerinDecember,

willreceive€50,000(£44,900)

aswellassupportand

coachingfromaward

co-ordinator,SeanMcHugh.

Ina changefromprevious

years,thetwoawardrunners-

upwillalsoeachreceive

€15,000(£13,000).

GeorgeLepleyhassecured

back-to-backBTRDASilver

Startitlesafterfinishingthird

intheclassonlastweekend’s

NickyGristStages.

Theonlyissuetooccurfor

Lepleyandco-driverTom

Woodburnontheeventwas

duringtheopeningstage,when

a carthathadstoppedpulledout

infrontofthemcausingthemto

slowintheresultingdustcloud.

Optingtosettlefora result

ratherthantheoutrightwin,

despitehavingtakenmaximum

scoresfromthepreviousfour

rounds,Lepleycompletedthe

podiumandsecuredhistitle.

It’sanimpressivefeatforthe

21-year-old,wholastyearwon

thetitleina FordFiestaR

ByLukeBarry

JamesWilliamsis

feeling“wellprepared”

forhisEuropeanRally

Championshipdebutthis

weekendwherehewilltake

onRallydi RomaCapitalein

anofficialM-SportFiestaR2T.

Williamsstormedtoa dominant

RC4victoryontherecentYpres

Rally,winningthecategoryby

45 secondsandtheBritishJunior

RallyChampionshipsectionby

almostnineminutes.

Thishasledtoanopportunity

inanofficialM-Sportcarthis

weekend,andWilliams’shopes

arehighdespitehislackof

knowledgeoftherally.

“I’mgoingtobequitefreshtoit,

butI’mobviouslygoingtotryand

lookatthestagesontheinternet

andwatchanythingI canseeon

YouTubetolearnasmuchas

I can,butthisis goingtobemy

firstattemptovertheresoit

willbetricky,”Williamstold

MotorsportNews.

“I’ma supercompetitiveperson,

sowhereverI go,I wanttowin.As

stupidenoughasit soundsoras

unrealisticasit sounds,whenI go

toa newevent,Romeforinstance,

I stillwanttowin.”

Williamsfinishedsecondin

theJuniorBRClastyearandhas

climbedtothirdinthisyear’s

standingsdespitemissinga

round,butis unsurewherehewill

stackupagainstthecompetition

intheERC.

Buta goodresultinRomecould

leadtootheropportunitieslater

intheyear.

“It’sa massivestepupgoinginto

theEuropeanchampionship,and

I thinkI’llbewellpreparedfrom

theBritishchampionshiphaving

a coupleofyearsthere,butagain

it’sanotherstep.

“I’vehadsomeinternational

experiencedoingWalesRally

GBandYpresaswellis quitea

high-profileeventsoI thinkI’ll

bequitewellpreparedforit.It’ll

justbetheactuallevelofthe

juniorsthatwillbea bitofa

questionmark.

“[But]I’mgoingtogooutthere

anddoasbestasI canandimprove

thecarforM-Sportandhopefully

if wecangeta goodresult,more

opportunitiescouldbeinthe

pipelinesothatwouldbegood.”

M-Sport Fiesta R2T outing planned for JBRC regular on Rally di Roma Capitale

WILLIAMS SET FOR ERC ENTRY

RALLY NEWS

before campaigning a historic-

specification Hillman Avenger

in 2019.

“We came here to win the

championship, we had to use

our heads and look after our

tyres as we knew we had to get

the car to the finish,” Lepley

said at the finish. “We’ve won

the series two years on the

trot, and we’ve done it in a

complete variety of cars,

front-wheel-drive modern

left-hand drive and now

rear-wheel-drive historic

right-hand drive.”

Photos:Xxxx

Photos:JakobEbrey,ChicaneMedia

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