Stevie Brown snatched the class six rally win on the final stage of the Station Garage Granite City Rally last weekend (April 26), with an inspired drive over the five mile Durris test. As the Five Mile Garage supported crew of Brown and Elgin co-driver Ian Morrison entered the final test of the day, they were 13 seconds adrift of class leader Alick Kerr in his identical Ford Fiesta ST.

The MSA British Academy member says he followed his hero’s footsteps. “To take 13 seconds out of someone on a five mile stage is a big ask, especially when they’re in an identical car, but I wasn’t going to give up without a fight so I took the decision to follow Colin McRae’s example ‘if in doubt, flat out” explained Stevie who was awarded the late Colin McRae’s tribute award at the end of the 2007 County Saab Scottish Rally Championship.

Stevie had been hampered earlier in the rally with a puncture on the first stage and two overshoots at junctions on stage three. “The first overshoot we had was a pretty silly mistake and was just because I wasn’t concentrating. The second overshoot we had was at a hairpin, we went down the fire break by about 300 yards. We were really lucky we didn’t hit any of the spectator cars that were parked on the side of the road.”

After stage three Brown and Morrison began their fight back, “we managed to take eleven seconds back on stage four, and then Alick took two seconds out of us on stage five” explained Stevie. The final test of the day would see Brown and Morrison set the third fastest two wheel drive time, just behind the Escort Mk2’s of Callum MacKenzie and Steve Bannister, a fantastic achievement when you consider they have nearly twice the power.

More importantly it was enough to take the class lead, completing the stage an astonishing three seconds a mile faster than Kerr, stopping the clocks fourteen seconds quicker and taking the class win by one second.

The Nicolson Maps supported crew were awarded their class trophy and £150 Pirelli tyre voucher. “It feels fantastic to have won in a straight fight to the end, if we hadn’t lost so much time on stage three we could have achieved a better overall result but to fight back and win the class is great” said Stevie.

Incar footage from the weekend available here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBcl-MAftAM

Email:   This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Web:    www.steviebrown.co.uk 

Granite City Rally: www.granitecityrally.co.uk

Scottish Rally Championship www.scottishrallychampionship.co.uk

Rally Academy Elite Scheme: www.msabritishrallyelite.co.uk/index.asp

Fiesta ST UK Championship: www.fiestasportingtrophy.co.uk