Currie battles for Grampian Rally win
Mull rally driver Alasdair Currie, 20, scored his third win in the 2018 Scottish Rally Championship at last weekend’s Grampian Forest Rally in Aberdeenshire.
The Tobermory rally ace clinched the Junior Scottish rally championship win after battling a mechanical problem during the last two stages of the event.
The Argyll team, Grant MacNiven from Oban and Currie set the pace on the opening four stages of the event to build a comfortable minute lead from their closest rivals.
The dominant Ford Fiesta ST team had left the midday service area after carrying out checks on the car and were on their way to stages five and six when the gearbox jammed into third gear and left the crew with little ability to carry on.
However, the fighting duo weren’t prepared to give up on their championship hopes and decided to battle on, nursing the Fiesta through the remaining two stages.
Fortunately, Currie had done enough in the morning to keep his rivals at bay after dropping more than a minute with the mechanical issue to win by nine seconds.
Alasdair said: ‘I thought the day was finished the minute I couldn’t select any gear in the car.
‘To come home with the win after a day like that is a real achievement.
‘We dropped a lot of time, but we were lucky that there weren’t many uphill sections where we could have stalled in third gear but we lost an incredible amount of time on the fast sections.’
Currie now takes control, currently leading the Junior Category, Class 6 (FWD 2000cc), FIA 2WD and the Fiesta ST cup with one remaining round of the 2018 Scottish Rally Championship. The Armstrong Galloway Hills Rally in Castle Douglas on September 10 will host the penultimate battle of the season.
He added: ‘We have had a really tough season, and to be back in contention for the title after two retirements is a real surprise. I’m one step away from becoming Scottish champion, and as a team we will make sure we take this battle right to the end.’