Dumfries rally driver David Bogie extended his already impressive tally of RSAC Scottish Rally wins on Saturday [20 July], by taking his eighth event victory.
The former Scottish Rally Champion teamed up with Kirsty Riddick for the 78th edition of the RSAC Scottish Rally and the pairing took their Volkswagen Polo GTi R5 to an impressive win in tricky conditions. That meant Bogie’s already impressive record of seven wins was extended, standing on the top step of the event podium for a record-extending eighth time.
Northern Ireland’s Jonny Greer and co-driver Niall Burns ensured their trip across the Irish Sea was a worthwhile one, taking their Citroen C3 Rally2 to second overall, whilst Asset Alliance Group Scottish Rally Championship leader Euan Thorburn extended his advantage, taking the final podium spot in his Polo GTi R5 with Keir Beaton on the notes.
Around 80 crews gathered in Dalbeattie and the Jas P Wilson Forest Machines facility for this year’s event before heading out to tackle over 45 competitive stage miles, spread over six tests in the Dalbeattie, Kinharvie and Glengap forests.
A dry start to the day, saw Bogie make headway on the opening test, stopping the clocks four seconds faster than Greer with Thorburn a further four back, ironically each driver in the positions that they would spray the champagne in back in Dalbeattie later that afternoon. But it wasn’t as clear-cut as that.
The Kinharvie test saw Thorburn leapfrog Greer into second, but that hard work would come undone on the next when a puncture dropped the Duns driver 26 seconds to the leaders.
Greer’s scratch time on the first stage after service firmed up his second spot but it was Bogie’s unrivalled consistency in the rain that followed that saw him secure yet another victory in the Dumfries and Galloway forests. Even a penultimate stage puncture couldn’t derail his record victory, which also added to co-driver Riddick’s 2011 win alongside Jock Armstrong, and they were able to spray the champagne as winners in Dalbeattie High Street on Saturday afternoon.
Behind them, the battle raged on for the podium spots and Greer set two fastest times over the afternoon loop to secure second overall on only his second gravel outing of 2024. But it was Thorburn who fought back, and despite a further two punctures, snatched third place from Finlay Retson and Paul Beaton on the very last stage, beating them by just one second to third. A clean run from Retson wasn’t quite enough to take a podium but the third SRC point scorer was some consolation for the Polo driver.
Scott Beattie and Peredur Davies recovered from a slow start, to take fifth in their Ford Fiesta R5 whilst John Wink and Neil Shanks secured sixth overall in their Hyundai i20. Stephen Petch/Michael Wilkinson snatched seventh from the clutches of Dumfries driver Mark McCulloch and co-driver Michael Hendry on the very last stage in their Proton Satria.
Ian Forgan/Chris Lees took ninth whilst Hugh Brunton/Emily Easton Page rounded out the top ten. The two-wheel-drive honours went to the ultra-hard charging Robert Proudlock who took time out of his British Rally Championship campaign to contest his home rally. The Junior BRC front-runner and co-driver Steven Brown recorded a sensational 12th overall in their mighty Peugeot 208 Rally4, beating much more powerful machinery in the process.
Number one seed and 2023 rally winner Jock Armstrong ended his charge on the opening stage of the event with track control arm issues on his Skoda, whilst fifth seed, Rory Young, slipped off the road on the second test in his Polo.
Elsewhere, Tom Constantine and Tony Walker took the top spot in the MG3 Rally Challenge single-make series. The UK Armed Forces Rally Team have attended the Scottish Rally for over 60 years, with the familiar Land Rovers entertaining the crowds as usual in the forests and Martin George and Ashley Wilcox were the first crew home.
Dumfries and Galloway Council have long been loyal supporters of the rally, with this year marking the 27th anniversary of the partnership which is understood to be the longest-running partnership between a rally and a local authority anywhere in Britain. The rally forms one of the Council’s seven ‘signature events`, which cover everything from Burns Suppers to arts festivals and World Championship Ice Hockey each year.
Former winners of the event include World Rally Championship legends such Colin McRae, Ari Vatanen, Hannu Mikkola and Stig Blomqvist.
Keep up to date via social media:
www.facebook.com/scottishrally and www.twitter.com/scottishrally and the event website www.scottishrally.co.uk
