Alastair Fisher has taken his first ever victory in the British Rally Championship after winning this weekends RSAC Scottish Rally, round three of the Pirelli-backed series. Current Pirelli Star Driver Mark Donnelly finished sixth, equalling his best result this season.
Returning to the British Rally Championship calendar after a seven-year break, the Scottish Rally was a new event for several drivers competing in the top echelons of British rallying. After a ceremonial start in Dumfries on Friday evening, the BRC crews left the service park the following morning to take on nine fast gravel stages.
It was a game of cat-and-mouse during the events opening stages, with Fisher and Welshman Tom Cave swapping positions on three occasions. Cave took the initial lead but Northern Irelands Fisher was hot on his heels, snatching the rally lead once again after stage five.
With stage eight cancelled, the gap proved too much for Cave to claw back vital seconds from Fisher who went on to take the win. But it was former Pirelli Star Driver Jukka Korhonen who was to eventually claim the runners-up spot, setting a storming time on the rallys closing stage to overhaul Cave and reaffirm his lead at the top of the overall standings.
Speaking at the finish in Dumfries, rally winner Fisherwho also competes in the Citroen Top Driver supported by Pirelli - said: It has been a long time coming, but Im delighted to finally be on the top step of the podium. We should have won several times in the past but today weve finally done it. Well need to take a look at the championship carefully now, as there is a clash with our home event and WRC-3 Rallye Deutschland.
John MacCrone put in a sterling performance over the weekend to bring his Citroen home in fourth place. Jonny Greer finished fifth, and Donnelly and his Pirelli-branded Citroen DS3 R3 took sixth place.
Everything started really well for us and we were in fourth place for the first half of the rally but the stages were very loose which made it difficult to keep a good momentum going, explained Donnelly.
I really wanted a top five finish this weekend and we were on course for that until I lost some time on the final stage. I know we are improving on each event but its still disappointing to lose out on a top five result by a couple of seconds. Now weve got the summer break so Im going to use this time to focus on the cars set-up before our home rally. Id love to get the second half of my season off to a strong start with a podium result, or even a win, in front of the home crowds, added the 22-year-old from Omagh.
Ruary MacLeod finished second behind Daniel McKenna in the new-for-2013 RallyTwo category after a trouble-free event in his Fiesta R2. The runners-up spot was enough to secure MacLeod with the third Pirelli Star Driver nomination of the season.
Pirelli UK Tyres Operations Manager, Matthew Corby, commented: Its always difficult competing on a rally where the stages are completely new, as was the case for several of the BRC crews this weekend. The stages in and around Dumfries are a lot faster than people think and this can be difficult to gauge having only done a recce. There was also a lot of loose gravel on the road, especially after the second pass, which made it difficult to keep a steady rhythm. To fight for a win, its important to feel completely confident with the car, set-up and the tyres and sometimes it can be hard to get everything right. Of course, with the Scottish Rally being a one-day event, it was even more important to get everything right from the offand well done to Alastair for nailing it. Mark has had a strong start to the season but now we must ensure weve got everything in place to help him push for a podium in the seasons second half.
Round four of the Pirelli-supported British Rally Championship will resume in Northern Ireland as the six-round series returns to asphalt for Rally Northern Ireland, which will be staged in Antrim from 23-25 August.
