RALLYING: Class win for Rugby's rally driver Ashleigh Morris keeps her in with chance of title

Last Sunday saw the penultimate round of the 2019/20 Motorsport News Circuit Championship, the Lee Holland Memorial Stages at Anglesey in Wales. Following 80mph winds the day before luckily the weather had calmed down and it was dry but still windy.

Rugby's rally driver Ashleigh Morris and co-driver Jamie Mactavish had a good start to the day, leading the class after stage 1. The rest of the morning went well and the team were sitting 2nd in class until stage 4 when the gear stick snapped and the car was stuck in 4th gear! It was a challenging end to the stage having to get through chicanes and round a hairpin in 4th gear but they made it back and the team welded it ready for the afternoon.

Ashleigh and Jamie had dropped back to 4th after that and were trying to make back time in the afternoon but going into the final stage they were still sitting 4th in class. Chris Ruck and Steve Harris had been leading the class but suffered mechanical issues on the final stage which dropped them down the order. Ashleigh and Jamie managed to set a really quick time on the last stage (14th overall) and clawed back time on the competitors in 2nd and 3rd to take the class win!

Ashleigh said, “We are absolutely delighted, especially after going into the stage 4th in class. We pushed on really hard on the final stage to get the class win and we also finished 16th overall in a very competitive field. It was crucial to us to go well here so we are pleased to have taken away maximum class points ahead of the final round at Donington on 15th March. There are five of us who could technically take the class win so it will go right down to the wire!”