Scott Macbeth claimed his very first Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship (SRC) victory at the season-opening Tore Car Sales Snowman Rally on Saturday [February 14].
Co-driven in his Volkswagen Polo R5 by Andrew Falconer, the local Muir of Ord driver beat Icelandic crew Daniel Sigurðarson and Ásta Sigurðardóttir (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) by 17 seconds while early rally leaders Alexander Vassallo / Chris Lees (Ford Fiesta Rally2) completed the podium.
Bitterly cold conditions greeted the crews as they left the Black Isle Showground for six special stages in the forests near Inverness. Outlining how competitive 2026 is set to be, just one second separated the fastest three cars – Vassallo, Macbeth and Thomas Gray (Polo R5) – on the opening Ardendrain test, and it was similarly close on SS2 Balnain as Macbeth moved to the front but only be a second over Vassallo.
After a trip back to service, the rally’s longest stage awaited and would ultimately prove decisive. Conditions were extremely icy, but Macbeth was brave and kept his foot down to be rewarded with a strong 23s lead at the end of Millbuie. Vassallo didn’t quite have the same rhythm and slipped back to fifth, allowing SRC debutant Sigurðarson to assume second place.
Event organisers took the sensible decision of cancelling the second running of Millbuie, leaving Macbeth in preservation mode for the two final stages of the event.
Third fastest on SS5 and second quickest on SS6, the 33-year-old managed things perfectly to deliver a dream result for himself, and co-driver Falconer whose first and last SRC win was at the Snowman Rally in 2016, exactly 10 years ago.
Sigurðarson was similarly pleased in second place, having proved his pace against the experienced locals, while Vassallo made it back up to third despite a misfire on the final stage. Both drivers recorded their very first Scottish championship podiums.
Gray and co-driver Harry Marchbank missed out on the rostrum by a painful four seconds in his Polo while the experienced Bruce McCombie mastered the conditions to complete the top-five in his Ford Fiesta R5 alongside Neil Shanks.
Mike Stuart and Clare Fraser were similarly stunning on their way to the G&M Mechanical Services Rally Preparation 2WD victory. Driving a historic-specification Ford Escort Mk1, the Alford driver was as high as sixth overall after two stages before eventually finishing 10th overall and 25 seconds clear of his nearest category rival Craig Rutherford.
Natalie Robinson and Sam Collis drove a strong rally too in their Peugeot 208 Rally4; Robinson claiming top points in the Questmead SRC Juniors category.
The next round of the 2026 Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship is the Border Counties Rally, based in Jedburgh on Saturday March 14.
