It’s been an unexpectedly long close season but next weekend the Scottish Rally Championship will get underway once again, with a new title sponsor on board, when over 90 crews will line up to take the start of the McDonald & Munro Speyside Stages, Round 1 of the 2024 Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship.
Topping the seeding are 2023 Speyside winners Finlay Retson (Blairgowrie) & Paul Beaton (Inverness). 2023 was a year of blinding pace marred by bad luck with the Speyside win being the standout achievement. Their Rally 2 Fiesta has been upgraded to the latest spec over the winter and hopefully their undoubted speed can be matched by a return of good fortune.
2 VW Polo Rally 2s line up in the hands of 2 of the SRC’s most successful campaigners. 6 time champion David Bogie & John Rowan return to the Scottish forests behind the wheel of Dom Buckley’s example with David’s long time friend and rival Euan Thorburn (Duns) in his own car.
The 3 times champion more experienced in the Polo than Bogie having enjoyed success last season on the Jim Clark. Both are definitely going to be in the discussion at the front of the field and it will be interesting to see how the VW’s perform on the Scottish gravel.
The other former champion in town is the evergreen combination of Jock Armstrong (Castle Douglas) and that famous orange Impreza. The 2023 season showed that the 20 plus year old car could still mix it with the R5s and Rally 2s, taking 2 wins. Jock teams up with MSUK Academy alumni and young up and comer Owen Paterson (Dumfries) for the Speyside.
Behind the 3 former champions comes the armada of top 3 contenders to watch out for:
Michael Binnie (Cornhill on Tweed) is reunited with Claire Mole (Duns), back in the Fiesta that lead both the Grampian & Carlisle Stages in 2023. Much like Retson, Michael’s 23 season was a mix of great pace and bad luck.
John Wink’s (Huntly) Hyundai i20 has been refreshed over the winter. With regular navigator Neil Shanks on Clerk of the Course duties, super-sub Will Atkins (Whitchurch) is back in the hotseat for this round.
Mark McCulloch (Dumfries) & Michael Hendry (Aberlour) are back in their self-engineered Proton Satria Evo. 2023 was a real coming out party for the car, establishing it as a genuine threat for rally wins.
Freddie Milne exported his expertise to take top honours in a Spanish regional rally rhampionship in 2023. The Fabia pilot returns to his home country for his 1st SRC round since the 2023 Snowman with Max Freeman (Wales) alongside.
Stephen Petch (Hamsterley) & Michael Wilkinson (Crook) are back for a 2nd season in the SRC, they are followed by their fellow Fabia crew of Hugh Brunton (Arbroath) & Drew Sturrock (Brechin).
Reigning Albyn Garage Challengers champions Scott Peacock (Castle Douglas) & Craig Wallace (Westmuir) are top Mitsubishi on the entry list.
One of the front runners in both the Challengers and 2wds last season, Paddy Munro (Kyle) is back in his glorious sounding Escort, joined in the hotseat by Andrew Stevenson (Grantown on Spey). Representing the 4wd Challengers, Matt Calderwood (Helensburgh) & Phil Sandham (Carnforth) return to the SRC after a lay off in their Mitsubishi.
