Mitsubishi driver Scott MacBeth’s drive to sixth place in the KNC Groundworks Scottish Rally Championship (SRC) last weekend earned him the first SRC John Horton Star Driver Award of the season.
MacBeth and co-driver Daniel Forsyth were then embroiled in a close battle with fellow Mitsubishi crew Thomas Gray and Harry Marchbank throughout the snow filled rally, eventually nicking ahead by just six seconds in the final stage.
His composure to fight back to sixth place in the SRC was enough to see him beat Gray and Scottish 2WD winner Paddy Munro to the Star Driver Award, which enters him into a shoot-out at the end of the season for the title of 2019 SRC John Horton Star Driver.
“It’s great recognition,” MacBeth said.
“Obviously we’ve had a lot of bad luck in the past with our rallying so hopefully this means it’ll be behind us now.
“It was a great battle with Thomas [Gray]. When I know there’s somebody to go for I probably try a bit harder, and we managed to come from six seconds behind to six seconds in front in that last stage.
“I’m really enjoying driving the car, we would like to be around the top 10 and keep at the front of the Challengers for the rest of the season, I’d be happy with that.”
Despite the great result, MacBeth was lucky to get to the end of the Border Counties after damaging the ECU and gearbox in his Mitsubishi.
“We were very lucky to get to the end looking at the car now,” he admitted.
“If there was another stage in the rally we probably wouldn’t have made it.”
Plenty of drivers also made it to the finish last weekend, and plenty more did so with superb class finishes in their pockets.
Class 2: Donald Peacock and Keith Riddick were delighted to get the better of Donald’s son Scott in their Peugeot 205, and took the class win in the process ahead of Martin Crombie and David Law’s Talbot Sunbeam.
Class 3: Fraser Smith and Ian MacDougall were the only registered class finishers in their Honda Civic, finishing 38th overall.
Class 5: Ian and Dawn Milne had a far from ideal rally, picking up a five minute penalty for an early check-in to a time control, but the pair still took top Historic honours in their Ford Escort Mk2.
Class 6: Carl and Rob Tuer took a fine class win in their Suzuki Swift Maxi, edging out the Ford Fiesta ST of Bobby Mitchell and Shannon Turnbull by just two seconds. Linzi Henderson and Tom Hynd were third on their first outing in a Ford Fiesta R2T.
Class 8: Iain Wilson and Chris Williams took the win in their Ford Escort Mk2 ahead of the similar car of Gordon Murray and David O’Brien.
Class 9: Michael Binnie and Claire Mole claimed top honours in their Evo IX, ahead of MacBeth and Forsyth and Gray and Marchbank.
Class 10: Freddie Milne and Steven Brown took their class as well as third overall in their Mitsubishi, with a time penalty dropping Jock Armstrong and Cameron Fair to second. Alan Dickson and Martin Forrest were third in an Evo IX.
Class 11: Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton took the class win to complement their outright victory in their Ford Focus WRC, ahead of Garry Pearson and Dale Bowen’s Ford Fiesta R5.
The next round of the series is the McDonald & Munro Speyside Stages on Saturday 20th April.
Based in Elgin, the event comprises of 45 stage miles including two runs around the spectator special Cooper Park before the action heads to the forests.
Entries are already open for the event, and can be made here.
The KNC Groundworks Ltd Scottish Rally Championship is supported by Royal Aero, Pirelli Motorsport, Moates Offshore Ltd, Albyn Garage Ltd, RAVENOL and Reis Motorsport Insurance.
Keep up to date with all the latest news via the championship’s official website, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #SRC19.
