1^st (11) Mark Higgins/Mike Gibson (Focus) 2.01.44.5

2^nd (15) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC) 2.02.28.7

3^rd (17) Tapio Laukkanen/Ilka Riipinen (Impreza N) 2.03.32.3

4^th (25) Johan Kressner/Cato Menkerud (Impreza WRC) 2.05.23.5

5^th (18) Steve Petch/John Richardson (Hyundai WRC) 2.05.42.4

6^th (39) Oscar Svedlund/Bjorn Nilsson (Lancer N) 2.08.14.5

7^th (31) Nik Elsmore/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 2.08.21.4

8^th (28) Leon Pesticcio/Howard Davies (Lancer N) 2.08.23.1

9^th (29) Gavin Cox/Tim Hobbs (Lancer N) 2.09.13.3

10^th (38) Andreas Eriksson/Patrick Henriksson (Puma) 2.09.44.9

11^th (30) Bob Ceen/Alistair Douglas (Impreza) 2.10.18.1

12^th (1) Gwyndaf Evans/Chris Patterson (MG ZR) 2.10.23.4

Mark Higgins scored a solid victory here today finishing 44s ahead of Jonny Milner with Tapio Laukkanen 3^rd and winning group N. Gwyndaf Evans survived his gear linkage problems in the MG to finish first in the Super 1600 category, which will put Mark Higgins and Gwyndaf unofficially joint leaders of the Pirelli British Rally Championship after this first round. Mark commented here at the pre-finish service area "It wasn’t easy, and the rally is not over yet. I have still to get the car over the finish ramp and into parc ferme. There is a problem with the transfer box leaking oil on to the clutch, and we have to keep the engine running". Mark went on to say that this was his first win at this level since the Manx 2000, obviously he is very pleased with the result, but now he needs to persuade Ford to enter him in further rounds of the series. Jonny Milner commented "Of course it’s always nice to win, but I’m pleased to have scored good points, I could have pushed too hard and it might have all gone wrong. We had problems early on, of course Mark had his problems as well, but Pirelli did a superb job for us in sorting out the tyres". Tapio Laukkanen said "I’m very happy about the result and now we know the car is good. I had some moments on the last stage when a rock got jammed in the gear linkage and we only had 1 gear for a while, but it was OK then".

Swedish driver Kressner was 4^th o/a and 3^rd group A and said "Very glad with the result, it is important to us. It is our first time on gravel with this car, we made a bad start but fastest stage time at end and we look forward to Welsh". Steve Petch in the Hyundai had been 4^th but Kressner just went faster towards the end, Steve telling us "We had no major problems, for us this is a good finish and we are proving the car to be more reliable". Guy Wilks was 2^nd in the S1600 in his Ford Puma despite a huge drama when the fire extinguisher went off accidentally in Chirdonhead. Rory Galligan was 3^rd in the S1600, the Peugeot driving saying "Thrilled to finish my first works drive!"

Late stories included – Martin Sansom went off on the last stage, no sign here as yet. Kris Meeke’s accident was basically down to driving hard on a punctured tyre. James Thompson was off again on the last stage, survived and had a great rally. Young Garry Jennings has won the Pirelli 206 Gateshead Rally to make it a double-header weekend. Chris Moore 2^nd Sykes 3^rd.Many thanks to all who supported and helped with the RallyNews service…BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON