Argyll Rally falls under Welsh wizard’s spell

The Dunoon Presents Argyll Rally delivered a spectacular curtain-raiser for the Scottish Rally Championship amid the stunning scenery of Cowal – but it was a Welshman who grabbed the headlines.

Making a radical switch from the forest road event that has taken place since 2017, the Mull Car Club-organised rally took place on closed public roads, starting with a dramatic Dunoon town centre circuit on the evening of Friday June 25.

This was the season opener for the KNC Groundworks

Scottish Rally Championship, joined by the Northern England Tarmacadam Rally Championship and a top-quality field of 120 crews took part.

Castle Douglas driver Jock Armstrong with Tobermory’s Cameron Fair on pace notes led the event in their Fiesta Ford Rally2 after the town stage – but with three more stages in Cowal to come that night, it would be short-lived as the Aberdeen/Aberystwyth team of Freddie Milne and Patrick Walsh took the overnight lead. Eighteen seconds behind

Milne was the MINI WRC crew of Daniel Harper and Chris Campbell with David Wright and Paula Swinscoe third in their Fiesta R5.

Milne stayed ahead across undulating, narrow stages in Glendaruel, Strathlachlan and Whistlefield, opening up a gap approaching 20 seconds. A one-minute chicane penalty on stage seven, however, dropped him out of contention, leaving Wright to pick up the top spot.

More drama awaited as a similar penalty befell Wright on stage 11. With Welshman

Meirion Evans and co-driver Jonathan Jackson Volkswagen in their Polo GTi R5 mounting a last loop charge, it would be Evans who came out on top.

Harper secured second overall with Milne taking the final podium place.

Clerk of the course Chris Woodcock said: ‘Thank you to the organising team who pulled everything together and the authorities and sponsors for working closely with us to ensure we had everything in place to abide by current restrictions.’