Jim Clark Rally

Another varied weekend up in the Scottish Borders. With no Irish crews this year the International rally was all about the BRC. Craig Breen & Gareth Roberts (Fiesta S2000) took the lead after stage 1 before Keith Cronin & Barry McNulty (Impreza N15) took the lead until an excursion into a wall on the final stage of the day which saw Breen take over at the top overnight. Breen then extended his lead over the first loop of Saturday before increasing his advantage further on stage 9 when Cronin punctured and dropped to 4th overall. Disaster then struck as Breen retired on stage 10 with major engine damage after a mechanical failure. Alastair Fisher & Rory Kennedy (Evo IX) now led Gwyndaf Evans & Chris Patterson (Evo X) by just over 11 seconds. On stage Evans took the lead and extended it out to half a minute to take victory for the 2nd BRC round in a row. Fisher was a fine 2nd with Cronin have a trying event but happy to finish in the final podium place.

Clywdian Cars Stage Rally

A glorious day up on the ranges at Trawsfynydd saw a field of 36 cars tackle the 12 stages of the Clywdian Cars Stage Rally. Ken Pugh & Gwawr Hughes (Lancer Evo III) were protecting a long unbeaten run and took an early lead over the Puma 4WD of Gwyn Thomas & Paul Hughes. During the second loop of stages Thomas took 9 seconds out of Pugh to lead by 6 seconds going into the final loop. Then courtesy of an overshoot on stage 9 Pugh lost another 11 seconds in just one stage. A valiant effort saw Pugh claw back the lost time over the next 3 stages but Thomas took victory by the 6 seconds advantage he held after stage 8. Geoff McQuilling & Rob Hopewell brought home their Civic a further 17 seconds back to complete the podium places.

Plains Rally

Another BTRDA round and another Andrew Burton and Steve Perez clash! It was effectively over on stage 1 though as Perez, co-driven by Paul Spooner in the Focus WRC, made a bad tyre choice and a superb drive from Burton, co-driven by Robin Kellard in the Peugeot Cosworth, saw the Herefordhsire farmer take 21 seconds out of his rival. The final victory margin was 25 seconds as Burton and Perez continued to exchange fastest stage times throughout the rest of the event, but the damage was done on stage 1. Mirroring the result from the Somerset Stages, the final podium place went to David Wright & Michael Wilkinson (Evo IX) a minute further back.

Manx National Rally

Glorious weather all weekend on the Isle of Man resulted in one of the fastest Manx National rallies on record. Paul Bird & Kirsty Riddick (Focus WRC) returned to defend their title from 2009 and ultimately ended up winning back to back titles. The winning margin was over 3 minutes, but they had been kept honest throughout by the reigning British Rally Champions Keith Cronin & Barry McNulty (Impreza N15). Cronin was on the island with the TEG team testing damper and suspension settings ahead of the International Rally in July before crashing out on the penultimate stage. 2nd overall went to the local crew Steven Quine & Richard Skinner (Evo VI) with the final podium spot going to Damian Cole & Craig Drew (Focus WRC) who had suffered clutch problems all event.

Welsh Rally

The Epynt military ranges played host to the Welsh Rally on a bright, if breezy, Bank Holiday weekend. Fastest out of the box on the first stage, the longest of the event, were Damian Cole & Craig Drew (Focus WRC). They continued to hold the advantage over the chasing crews to finally add another win over Epynt for Cole, this time in a 4WD car. In second place were 2010 Tour of Epynt winners Peter LLoyd & Graham Handley (Impreza WRC) just 2.5 seconds behind. Completing the podium were Bob Fowden & Paul Wakely (Impreza) almost 4 minutes back from the leader but just edging out Steve Simpson & Mark Booth (Impreza WRC) by only 2.7 seconds.