Making their 1st SRC start this year, Rory Young & Jamie Edwards had made a very last-minute swap from a Polo to a Skoda Fabia. Despite the lack of familiarity with the car they were immediately flying, tied for the lead after Friday night. Saturday morning saw more of the same, pulling clear of the chasing pack.
They reserved their big moment for the final loop, pulling off a full 360 spin in 4th gear, amazingly not hitting anything. Rory knocked the car down just 1 gear and they carried on, taking the win by 28 seconds at the finish.
It had also been a frantic event build up for Hugh Brunton, teaming up at the last minute with the experienced Richard Wardle. They started steadily on the Friday, Hugh saying he was too cautious as the new partnership adapted to how each other worked, lying 3rd in the SRC overnight.
Saturday saw them turn it on, speeding up and swapping times with the Fabia at the front. That hauled them into 2nd by the midday service, and they pulled 20 seconds clear of 3rd by the finish despite completing 1 stage with no intercom. Hugh relieved that his undoubted Argyll pace was finally rewarded after years of bad luck.
Mark McCulloch & Michael Hendry headed into this round feeling confident after a good pre-event test. Despite feeling the car was a tiny bit too stiff on the Friday night it was clearly working well, the Evo powered Proton tying with Young & Edwards for the SRC lead.
After some overnight tweaks they were immediately in a battle on Saturday with Brunton & Wardle, the factory-built Polo only just pulling clear of the home engineered Proton by service. After a couple more adjustments in service, Mark reckoned the car was the best it’s ever been, rounding the rally off with a fastest time and grabbing 3rd.
Grabbing both the G&M Mechanical Services 2wd and the Challengers win it was a fantastic event for Ross Jarrett & Steven Brown.
After a strong Speyside, Keith Robathan & Ian Nicoll were excited to see what they could do on the tar. They survived a final scare, narrowly missing a deer but grabbed 12th in the SRC and top honours in the Haddo Energy Super Seniors.
There was early drama in the Groundwater Lift Trucks Subaru Cup when Owen Paterson & Calum McPherson retired with a blown engine on Friday night. That handed the advantage to Mike Grant & Graham Kelman.
