The highs and lows
Scots racers and rally crews enjoy and endure lots of battling action
FORMER British Touring Car Champion Gordon Shedden had a roller-coaster ride last weekend.
The Dalgety Bay racer suffered a first-lap collision that broke his front suspension, had a storming drive from last to 12th in race two, then got pole in the reverse grid and disappeared off in front for a victory.
After the encounters at Croft Circuit in Yorkshire, he said: “There were some mega moves, the Honda Civic Type R has felt really good all weekend.
“To finish on top of the box, with next time out being at home at Knockhill, you couldn’t script it any better. I think the action there at the end of July will be absolutely incredible.”
Fellow Fifer Rory Butcher kept his championship interest alive with two seventh places and a third in his Toyota Corolla.
He said: “That was a fantastic result. That was our goal – to get on the podium. We had a good haul of point scores and we are really pleased with the consistency we have got.”
Aiden Moffat, from Dalkeith, was aiming to build on a great result at Oulton Park and he showed good pace at Croft as he finished eighth in the first to races.
But the Infiniti Q50 driver was frustratingly forced to retire from race three due to damage.
Team-mate Dexter Patterson, from Glasgow, had a day of steady progress. He finished 20th, 18th and 16th, with some impressive overtaking moves.
Rookie Oliver Stewart, from Beauly, enjoyed his F4 outing, with overall ninth, 14th and fourth-place finishes.
Elsewhere, Motherwell’s Ian Loggie and Callum Macleod stormed to a British GT victory at Snetterton, despite a balance-of-power change handed to all the Mercedes-AMG entrants.
The win – and sixth place in race two – meant he left Norfolk leading the title charge. He said: “If you are at the front then round here you should be able to keep it at the front and that is exactly what we did.”
Former champion Jonny Adam, from Kirkcaldy, was on a guest drive with Flick Haigh and they were on target for a race win until Adam suffered a slow puncture in their Mercedes and they had to retire.
They bounced back to finish third in race two. Adam said: “We have had great pace and it is nice to get a trophy at the end of the weekend.”
Inverness ace Lewis Williamson and James Cottingham came home third and fifth in the GT3 ProAm class in the sister 2 Seas Merc.
Meanwhile defending champ Sandy Mitchell, from Forfar, and Adam Balon were sixth and second in the Barwell Lamborghini Huracan.
Mitchell said: “To get two really solid races under our belts is excellent. Now we head to Spa eyeing another win in the two-hour race.”
Aberdeen father-and-son duo Stewart and Lewis Proctor were sixth and fifth in the Silver/Am class in the Greystone GT McLaren while Ross Wylie, from Dumfriesshire, and Matt Graham finished fifth twice over in their GT4 class in the Valluga Racing Porsche.
Chloe Grant, from Perth, had her best weekend so far in the GB4 Championship at Snetterton. She was sixth twice and also came in seventh.
Her Graham Brunton Racing teammate Logan Hannah, from East Kilbride, was eighth twice and seventh.
Stevan McAleer, from Glasgow, grabbed his first IMSA Sports Car Championship GTD pole position at Watkins Glen, New York. But contact with a prototype and bad weather in the race meant he Team Korthoff Motorsports Mercedes-AMG fellow drivers Mike Skeen and Dirk Mueller were disqualified.
In the LMP2 class, Ryan Dalziel, from Airdrie, joined Dwight Merriman and Kyle Tilley in the Era Motorsports car – starting and finishing seventh.
The Pilot Challenge saw McAleer back with GT America series partner Eric Filgueiras and they put the Rennsport One Cayman GT4 RS on pole. But they had to settle for second place in the race.
Robin Liddell, from Edinburgh, and Frank DePew started 20th in the Rebel Rock Racing Chevrolet Camaro and suffered a puncture early in the race. However, they fought their way through the field to finish fourth.
Back at home, on closed public roads, five-time champion David Bogie took his third win of the 2022 Scottish Rally Championship – the victory being both his and co-driver Cammy Fair’s first at the Argyll Rally.
The pair built an impressive lead over Friday night and Saturday morning and kept everything safe in the final loop to bring home the MINI WRC first overall and in the SRC.
On their first event in a Rally 2 Fiesta, David Henderson and Chris Lees had both SRC and Protyre Championship points at stake.
Lying third in the SRC overnight, they stepped the pace up on Saturday, grabbing second overall, second for SRC points and the Protyre win.
Michael Binnie and Claire Mole, had found the Friday night stages to be quite challenging on board their Mitsubishi Evo.
They spent Saturday morning in a battle for fourth before absolutely charging over the final loop to third overall and in the SRC – maintaining their fantastic run of podium finishes in 2022.
There were also category wins for Angus Lawrie and Paul Gribben, Peter Stewart and Harry Marchbank, Gordon Murray and Steven Brown, Junior champ Johnie Mackay and co-driver Michael Cruickshank, Orrin McDonnell and Eoghan Anderson, as well as reigning ladies champ Ashleigh Morris.
David Bogie’s victory stretches his lead in the championship standings to four points over Michael Binnie, while co-driver Claire Mole sees her lead over Cammy Fair cut to two points.
The SRC returns to the gravel roads of Dumfries and Galloway for round five, the RSAC Scottish Rally on July 23.
This weekend, Scotland’s Dean Macdonald will be racing a Garage 59 McLaren 720S in the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup at Misano in Italy.
And the European Le Mans Series and Le Mans Cup also head to Italy, with Jonny Adam and Colin Noble flying the flag for Scotland in the respective competitions at Monza.