1^st (17) Tapio Laukkanen/Ilka Riipinen (Impreza N) 1.07.11.3

2^nd (11) Mark Higgins/Mike Gibson (Focus) 1.07.22.9

3^rd (15) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC) 1.07.54.5

4^th (14) David Higgins/Daniel Barritt (Impreza N) 1.07.58.6

5^th (18) Steve Petch/John Richardson (Hyundai WRC) 1.08.57.8

6^th (25) Johan Kressner/Cato Menkerud (Impreza WRC) 1.09.17.3

7^th (22) Robert Woodside/Dean Beckett (Impreza WRC) 1.10.11.0

8^th (23) Glyn Jones/Craig Parry (Impreza WRC) 1.10.19.7

9^th (31) Nik Elsmore/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 1.10.31.3

10^th (1) Gwyndaf Evans/Chris Patterson (MG ZR) 1.10.31.8

11^th Svedlund 1.10.43.4: 12^th Pesticcio 1.10.43.4: 13^th Ceen 1.10.48.8: 14^th Cox 1.10.54.8: 15^th Eriksson 1.11.28.7:

Jonny Milner scored his first fastest stage time through stage 7 Harwood, recording 10.26.9, Mark Higgins was on 10.27.4, Johan Kressner on 10.41.1 and Tapio Laukkanen 10.43.0. Tapio holds on to the lead by just 11.6 seconds and commented here at service "We made a bit of a push in that stage, but we cannot match the world rally cars. Everything is going well, but still I must hold it in 5^th gear – at least we do have a gear!" Second placed Mark Higgins said "We had our best run so far in that stage, fast but still very safe, but I’m surprised that Milner beat us by half a second". As for Milner – he was delighted, and said "Yes, we attacked, pleased to have beaten Mark, but I’ll need to be going a lot faster to make up the time". David Higgins in 4^th place in the Barretts Subaru told us "I found it quite rough in places and swerve around a few rocks that had been pulled out by the cars in front"." Steve Petch holds on to 5^th place and said "I’m enjoying the stages, but I’d forgotten how fast Kielder was".

Gwyndaf Evans continues to lead the Super 1600 category in his MG, although he did slip a couple of places in the leaderboard, purely down to the fact that Harwood suited the gpN cars wo much better because of the very fast stretches. Gwyndaf commented "It’s been a good day, the engine goes really well but there’s a little spot at 5000 revs needs a bit of work, but it’s not boring. The handling is better but the tail end is still moving a little". Andreas Eriksson holds 2^nd in the Super 1600s and Guy Wilks 3^rd with Kris Meeke in close attendance in 4^th and then Rory Galligan. This is Meeke’s first run in the Puma and he’s certainly driving very sensibly, gaining confidence all the time.

In the Pirelli 206 National Rally, Garry Jennings continues to lead from Marko Ramanen with Mike Faulkner 3^rd and Shaun Gallagher 4^th. The Peugeot 206 Super Cup drivers will continue tomorrow as part of the Gateshead Rally. The Pirelli National championship contenders are however finished now, and Ryan Champion won that part of the rally, as well as being best placed 1400 Puma. Roger Andersson was 2^nd overall in the National and won the Polo Challenge from Ian Chadwick who was 3^rd o/a. Shaun Woffinden was 4^th and won the Ka series from Barry Clarke who was 5^th. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON