Round 2: Malcolm Wilson Rally, 8 March

Neil Andrew, co-driven by Dominic Adams in their VW Lupo, took the championship lead with victory in Class E1 for standard production cars on the Malcolm Wilson Rally.

The winning crew finished just a few seconds ahead of Nick Carr and Joe Sturdy (VW Lupo). This second class win from two events takes them into a slender one-point lead in the title race.

In the hotly contested 1400cc category, early leaders Mat Smith and Giles Dykes (Ford Ka) retired with engine problems in Grizedale forest, leaving rivals Dave Bennett and Alistair McNeil (Corsa) to claim maximum Class E2 points. Meanwhile Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis (Ford Escort Mk2) continued where they left off on the Wyedean Rally by dominating Class E5 and winning the event’s large Historic category.

Results (class winners)E5 Matthew Robinson / Sam Collis (Ford Escort Mk2) 50m 38sE4 Sacha Kakad / Andrew Price (Ford Fiesta ST) 59m 36sE3 Alan Abbey / Jane Robbins (Ford Puma) 59m 12sE2 Dave Bennett / Alistair McNeill (Corsa) 52m 35sE1 Neil Andrew / Dominic Adams (VW Lupo) 57m 20s

Provisional championship standings1 Neil Andrew – 50 points2 Matthew Robinson – 49 3 David Bennett – 484 Rory Jones – 45 5 Justin Lawson – 44