1^st (1) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 1.05.33.1

2^nd (7) Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 1.06.01.0

3^rd (12) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 1.06.11.1

4^th (14) Stuart Jones/Craig Parry (Lancer N) 1.06.58.8

5^th (10) Martin Rowe/Robbie Durant (Impreza N) 1.07.11.1

6^th (2) David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas (Lancer N) 1.07.12.6

7^th (6) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Lancer N) 1.07.34.0

8^th (15) Phillip Morrow/Daniel Barritt (Lancer N) 1.07.34.3

9^th (9) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Suzuki Ignis) 1.07.46.0

10^th (11) Julian Reynolds/Stewart Merry (Impreza N) 1.08.26.3

11^th (16) Conrad Rautenbach/Dave Senior (Impreza N) 1.08.45.1

12^th (4) Alister McRae/Gordon Noble (Impreza N) 1.09.04.9

This has certainly been a fascinating day’s rallying with the transition on the British Championship to Group N and Super 1600 cars providing close competition.  Mark Higgins has a 28s lead to carry into Day 2, not a lot considering the difficult stage miles ahead through Kielder.  Mark commented when he brought his Subaru into service. “It was real dusty through the last few stages, and we felt we were cleaning the road compared to the cars behind. Ryan Champion is going well and he is 10 cars back and probably getting a much cleaner road. Still it was a good day and I can now say I can still drive a group N car. It’s a matter of keeping the speed up, being smooth but aggressive at the same time”.  Gwyndaf Evans in 2^nd place also had a good run today, the former British Champion also proving that he can still drive a group N car and promising more to come.

Ryan Champion could hardly believe that he was still in 3^rd place when he arrived in here to service and told us. “We got the clutch fixed after 2 stages, but with starting it on the key and changing gear without the clutch we lost 5^th gear. Then we had 2 punctures, fortunately towards the end of stages so we didn’t lose too much time. When I got one of the punctures I dropped the back end of the car into a hole and bent the rear suspension. All in all in wasn’t easy, we were pushing as hard as we could to keep Gwyndaf at bay so hopefully we can turn the tables again in the morning”.  Stuart Jones in 4^th place had a real good run, just one small hiccup was a puncture a mile and a half from the end of stage 8 and Stuart did well to lose virtually no time.  Martin Rowe in 5^th improved throughout the afternoon while David Higgins really pushed through the afternoon stages as well, he said. “We gave it a real good go, although we were running a harder tyre and I’m not sure that it really worked. I think we’re in a good position for tomorrow”. 

Jonny Milner in 7^th wasn’t quite so happy and saying. “I felt we went really well in Kershope but when I saw the time we had been caned. The car gave a couple of coughs and we never have found out why it stopped earlier on, the main thing is we are here”.  Phillip Morrow in 8^th did just about as well as he could considering the car had no 5^th gear all day, and Phillip will be relieved to get the box changed at first Sunday service.  Guy Wilks in 9^th had to drive the last few stages with a broken shock absorber on his Suzuki but at least he’s ahead in the Super 1600.  Julian Reynolds in 10^th had a consistent day.

Some drivers outside the leaderboard include – Tapio Laukkanen who has dropped a fair bit of time, firstly with punctures and then with his seat belts coming undone. Alister McRae is out of the picture following some gearbox trouble – he should go on to the new Prodrive website www.prodrive-sales.com and order up a lot of new parts on-line!!  Shaun Gallagher was moving up towards the top 10 but his new Lancer dropped its sump guard in stage 7 and he lost over 2 minutes. Also in sump guard trouble is young Stephen Petch.  Following his 2 accidents, one in stage 6 one in 7, his sump guard then came adrift, and the turbo was broken and the back suspension was damaged, so he has pulled his Lancer out and will re-join the fray in the morning under Super Rally rules. Brian O’Mahony the British Super 1600 Champion withdrew his Puma after stage 7 because of battery troubles, he will try and re-start in the morning. We mentioned earlier that Neil McCance had damaged his Lancer in an accident, he has managed tog et it straightened and although its not concours he is taking it out on the Sunday leg. More news in the morning. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

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