Duo stay focused for first podium position
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INVERNESS pair Dougal Brown and Lewis Rochford clinched their first Scottish Rally Championship (SRC) podium after a fine drive at Galloway Hills.
The long drive south proved extremely worthwhile for the co-drivers, who fought off tough competition to secure their first taste of end-of-race champagne.
"It’s fantastic. It comes after getting top-five finishes on the two previous rounds", said Brown. "We’ve been pushing harder and harder as the season has gone on – getting more consistent and committed – and that’s increased the confidence."
Brown and Rochford started the day seeded fifth and set out on a charge from the start, moving quickly into fifth place overall and third in the SRC crew at the end of stage one.
This position was maintained throughout the day as the team contested six tough stages, making up 44 stage miles, with varied conditions throughout. Going into the last stage Brown and Rochford held a 42-second lead on Mike Faulkner and Peter Foy, who were their closest chasing SRC rivals.
With a gap of 27 seconds to Desi Henry and Damien Duffin, who were sitting in fourth place, Brown knew that they had to bring the car home in one piece without any mistakes through the final stage to hold position to the finish.
He said: "The result was the best of our rallying career with our first ever podium finish. We are delighted as it proves we have good pace and it brings confidence that we can repeat the success. A few miles into the final stage we came round a corner to be flagged to slow down by a number of spectators. Not knowing what we would find we backed off as we rounded the corner to see Dave Weston Jr, who had been leading the rally until this point, pulling away having just come unstuck from a ditch.
"The final stage was treacherous, by far the slippiest of the day and it would have been easy to have made a mistake and slide off. We kept pushing on but with a degree of caution to finish the stage without any dramas."
