As the drivers headed off to bed at the end of a mainly dry Jim Clark International Rally Day One, it was Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship leaders David Bogie and Kevin Rae who were back in charge, albeit only eight tenths ahead of a charging Adam Gould/Seb Marshall.
Bogie had dropped back after a stage three spin and overshoot, but a fastest time on stage five and consistent pace, meant that he leap-frogged ahead of Gould who has suffered with leaking brake fluid and a buckled wheel.
Jonny Greer/Dai Roberts were quickest on the second run through the Mantis Instant Shine Duns stage and overhauled Marty McCormack to lie third overnight, a gap of just over thirty seconds to Gould ahead.
But McCormack’s demotion to fourth should not detract from the enormity of his and David Moynihan’s achievement. Their two wheel drive Citroën had been as high as third; a stunning performance on his third outing in the car and his first on UK asphalt.
With his main rival for the F2 win Mark Donnelly gone on stage one, it was left to M-Sport Ford team mates Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts and John MacCrone/Stuart Louden to fight for F2 runners up spot overnight.
MacCrone’s initial dominance was parried by Breen in the second loop, but a great final stage leaves them just two seconds apart with Breen ahead.
Pirelli Star Driver Elfyn Evans and co-driver Andrew Edwards have treated today’s stages as a high speed test, after their gearbox let go a week ago and parts delays prevented them from even completing the shakedown. They end the day behind fellow Welsh driver Jason Pritchard who has set good times considering he is breaking in new co-driver Dale Furniss.