1^st (11) Mark Higgins/Mike Gibson (Focus) 1.38.27.5

2^nd (15) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC) 1.39.12.6

3^rd (17) Tapio Laukkanen/Ilka Riipinen (Impreza N) 1.39.17.5

4^th (18) Steve Petch/John Richardson (Hyundai WRC) 1.41.48.7

5^th (25) Johan Kressner/Cato Menkerud (Impreza WRC) 1.41.53.4

6^th (1) Gwyndaf Evans/Chris Patterson (MG ZR) 1.43.26.8

7^th (31) Nik Elsmore/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 1.43.51.9

8^th (28) Leon Pesticcio/Howard Davies (Lancer N) 1.44.03.1

9^th (29) Gavin Cox/Tim Hobbs (Lancer N) 1.44.28.5

10^th (39) Oscar Svedlund/Bjorn Nilsson (Lancer N) 1.45.19.7

11^th (30) Bob Ceen/Alistair Douglas (Impreza) 1.45.27.1

12^th (38) Andreas Eriksson/Patrick Henriksson (Puma) 1.46.04.8

"My luck must be changing" reported Mark Higgins when he arrived in here to service, and his Focus clutch called it a day. Mark went on to say that it had been making a strange noise, but although it may be a bit fraught to get the car to the service point and the clutch changed, it is certainly better to happen here than in the middle of a stage. Mark was fastest again through stage 9, by 8s from Jonny Milner. Milner commenting "I’m still pushing, but trying to keep in the middle of the rod as best we can, I did pick up a puncture but it was right at the end of the stage. I’m ahead of Tapio now but with 2 stages left there is no way I can catch Mark". Laukkanen is indeed back to 3^rd, but the Finnish driver does not seem too concerned, in that he is still leading gpN conclusively, and said "I drive steady now that David Higgins has retired, the gap to the cars in front is too big and it is many minutes to the car behind". Steve Petch is 4^th and reports no problems. While Johan Kressner is just a few seconds behind the Hyundai driver and is pushing hard.

Gwyndaf Evans is a remarkable 6^th overall in his Super 1600 MG ZR and told us "The stages are good, the grip is better than yesterday, the car feels really good, although the engine may have lost a little of it’s edge. We did have a problem with a front damper at the end of Falstone, the reservoir got knocked off on a major bump". Second in the S1600 is Guy Wilks in the Ford Puma and he is still having some gear change difficulty which is costing a few seconds. While Kris Meeke has closed to within 3s in his similar Puma, Kris saying "We’re taking no chances, keeping it steady, the tyres are working very well". Rory Galligan is 4^th in S1600, but his chances were not helped when his wipers stopped working through the wet Rushy Knowe stage.

Other stories included…Glyn Jones dropping out of the leaderboard when he incurred a puncture 6 miles into Rushy Knowe, and lost 4 minutes topping to change the wheel. In the Gateshead 205 National Rally – Marko Ramanen was fastest out of the starting blocks, just 1s quicker than Mike Faulkner with Garry Jennings just over a second behind that, and then it was Richard Sykes, Chris Moore and Shaun Gallagher. In the Pirelli Gateshead Rally Michael Glendinning leads in his Subaru from Phil Walker (Mazda)..more later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON