The dates have been confirmed for the eight rounds of the 2014 ARR Craib MSA Scottish Rally Championship.
The season gets underway in Inverness on February 22nd with the Arnold Clark Thistle Hotel Snowman Rally.
The focus switches to the south of Scotland for the Jedburgh-based Brick & Steel Border Counties on March 22nd – with classic stages in the Kielder and Wauchope forests – before heading to the north-east for the Granite City Rally on April 26th.
On June 1st, competitors return to the Scottish Borders for the only tarmac round of the series, the Jim Clark Reivers Rally – which has just been awarded the Chairman’s Cup as the best SRC event of 2013.
It is back to gravel tyres for the Dumfries-based RSAC Scottish Rally on June 28th, which will count as a round of the British rally championship for the second successive year.
Following a month’s break, Elgin hosts the McDonald & Munro Speyside Stages on August 2nd, with the penultimate round, the GWF Energy Merrick Stages, on September 6th.
The final event of the season will be the Colin McRae Forest Stages on October 4th.
SRC Chairman Dave Robson commented: “With new talent coming up through the ranks, the 2014 season promises to be just as thrilling as this past year, when we saw David Bogie and Kevin Rae clinch an historic fifth consecutive Scottish title – despite strong competition from the likes of Euan Thorburn and Quintin Milne”.
He went on: “The strength and depth of the championship was reflected in our recent end-of-season awards dinner at the Marriot Hotel in Glasgow, attended by 470 guests, where young talent rubbed shoulders with some of the most experienced competitors in British rallying”.
Among the “youngsters” was Elliot Edmondson, who was awarded the Nicky Jack Memorial Trophy as the most impressive junior co-driver, following a season alongside Mark McCulloch from Newton Stewart.
For his part, McCulloch picked up the Speedline Corse ‘Grand Attack’ Award (comprising four gravel wheels) for achieving stage times which saw him regularly mixing it with the WRC’s in his less-powerful Subaru Impreza.
Meanwhile, the prestigious “Colin McRae “If in doubt…flat out” Award went to fellow Impreza driver Jock Armstrong from Castle Douglas, who won the season-ending Galloway Hills Rally, of which he is sponsor.
Porthlethen’s Chris Collie was presented with the Douglas Wood ” Press on and Persevere’ Memorial Trophy(presented by Ken Wood) for overcoming adversity throughout the year, while Ford Fiesta R2 driver Kieran Renton from Coldstream received the Jim Fullwood Tyres Shield for best prepared car.
One of the biggest cheers of the night greeted the presentation of the Peoples Champion Shield for an outstanding contribution to Scottish motorsport, which this year went to the Scottish Motorsport Marshalls Club (S.M.M.C).
Aberdeen-based ARR Craib Transport Ltd – one of the UK’s leading haulage and logistics providers was recently announced as the title sponsor of the Scottish Rally Championship for the second year running. The partnership supports ARR Craib Ltd’s bid to raise the profile of motorsport nationally.
