Scottish Rally Championship heads for Dunoon
Returning to the Scottish Rally Championship calendar for the first time in more than a decade in 2017, the Argyll Rally, which takes in the Dunoon area on June 23, provides competitors with a nostalgic blast as well as a fresh challenge with plenty of new stages on the itinerary. The event is organised by Mull Car Club.
With last year’s winners Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton not competing this time around, 2018 will also see a new winner of this re-invented classic event.
Boarding the ferry in strong contention to etch their names onto the trophy are the three leading drivers in the championship table: Donnie MacDonald, Andrew Gallacher and Mark McCulloch.
MacDonald and co-driver Andrew Falconer have enjoyed a strong start to their second season in a Ford Fiesta R5, grabbing third overall on their home event, the Snowman Rally. The pair haven’t been on the podium since but are yet to feature outside the top six in 2018, finding themselves at the head of the championship going into the Argyll Rally.
Gallacher and Jane Nicol lead the championship after the Snowman and Speyside Stages, but dropped to second following a fairly anonymous performance on the Scottish Rally. The duo have been mightily impressive so far this year, however, and are the only crew starting the Argyll Rally to have won an SRC round already this year. They will be looking to extend their tally of wins to two aboard their Ford Focus WRC and recapture some of the momentum they lost in Lockerbie.
McCulloch and co-driver Michael Hendry are the SRC’s form crew, taking their best championship result with second on the Scottish Rally. Having switched from a Mitsubishi Evo IX to a Ford Fiesta R5 this season, the pair have been right on the pace since their first stage in the car and are looking more and more threatening with each passing event. With Scottish Rally winner David Bogie not competing in Argyll, can McCulloch and Hendry finally get that first SRC win in Dunoon?
Alasdair Currie from Mull leads the junior battle heading to Argyll, but will face stiff competition from fellow Fiesta ST driver Grant MacRae and MG ZR pilots Niall Cowan Jr and Scott Peacock to keep his advantage. Currie will be tough to beat, however, having won the past two rounds in this championship.
Adding extra incentive to an already appetising battle is the opportunity to receive the SRC John Horton Star Driver Award. Paddy Munro, Marty Scott and Angus Lawrie have already booked themselves a spot in the end-of-season shoot-out that will see drivers compete for the opportunity to receive a day’s tuition with Finnish rally legend Tapio Laukkanen. With such a strong prize to aim for, competitors will be out to impress when the action begins on June 23 in Argyll.
The 2018 ARR Craib MSA Scottish Rally Championship consists of seven forest events across Scotland, taking in over 300 competitive stage miles.