Historic Rally Car Register member Ernie Graham has won the 2005 FIA Historic Rally Championship in his Mk1 Ford Escort. Graham, the reigning HRCR Classic Stage Rally champion, was partnered by Alec Cooper on a daunting schedule of eight major historic stage rallies in six months across Europe and clinched the prestigious title on recent events in Finland and Italy."It’s been a great year and we have really enjoyed it," said Graham. "There has been some tough competition on each event and the Finnish rally was probably the best rally I've ever done. The gravel stages were really smooth and flowing."On the Finnish event, which included a number of stages formerly used on the 1000 Lakes Rally, they were heading for third overall when a gearlever circlip came out and the time lost dropped them to fifth. However, second in class was still an important result in championship terms.The event that sealed the title was the Rally Alpi Orientali in Italy at the end of August. On tight and twisty asphalt stages, they finished sixth overall among the 3-litre Porsches and won their class. "They were very, very challenging stages," reported Graham. Only once in eight events did they fail to finish when a segment of cam pulley broke during the run out to the opening stage on the Circuit of Cremona.Graham now has a Mk2 Escort in build for 2006, which he intends to run in a mix of HRCR Classic Championship rounds and selected European events. "It's an original Gartrac shell, that has hardly been used and never been damaged," says Graham of the new project