Scottish 1600 Rally Champion Stevie Brown will tackle the Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally on April 5 thanks to a last minute deal. The twenty-year-old Mackenzie Kilt hire supported driver will head to the Scottish boarders to Jedburgh, which will host the second round of the County Saab Scottish Rally Championship. Stevie will be co-driven by ex-British Rally Championship front runner Duncan Brown (no relation) who will fly in for the event.

The Borders Rally will mark the second occasion Duncan has co-driven for Stevie this year, with a previous outing on January’s Mull Forest stages where the pair went onto finish 10th overall. “Duncan has a vast amount of experience, and brings a huge value to the team” said Stevie.   

The Ellon based driver say’s he is looking forward to only his third outing in the Five Mile Garage backed Ford Fiesta ST, which he drove to victory on the opening round of the VK Fiesta Sporting Trophy UK series last month in Cumbria. “The Border Counties Rally offers us the opportunity to get some more miles in the car, especially as the nature of the stages on this rally are very similar to that of the next round of the Fiesta ST series. The event also presents the opportunity to gain some points for the Scottish Rally Championship” explained Stevie.

It is thanks to a last minute deal which will see the MSA British Rally Academy member in a position to tackle the event. Stevie, winner of the Colin McRae Tribute award says he was lost for words when the offer to do the rally was made. “We’re only able to do this event thanks to the generosity of a few individuals who have offered a tremendous amount of support. I really can’t thank them enough, and I hope we have a good run on the event to re-pay their kindness.”

As over 45 competitive miles of the countries most demanding stages awaits the Ford Fiesta crew in the infamous Keilder forests, Stevie explains there is a fine line between winning and disaster. “The fast and flowing nature of the stages makes this rally particularly difficult. The speeds are high meaning we will be reaching over 100mph in a lot of places. Combine that with deep ditches either side of the road, a few millimetres wrong and it can be the end of the rally.”