Inverness female rally team of driver Michelle Falconer and co-driver Ailie Donaldson, fought to complete the Mercury Motorsport Stages at Crail last weekend, (14 and 15 June) as mechanical failure threatened to stop their event in its tracks.

The Highland Waste Service backed Vauxhall Nova cut out on the first stage of the second leg, forcing the female crew to stop mid stage. “We lost drive, and eventually the car cut out” explained Michelle. She continues, “We had to miss two stages as the recovery truck couldn’t get into the stage”.

Once the Focus Vehicle Rental team car was recovered to the service area, the mechanics were set to work to find and fix the broken part. With an ignition timing fault diagnosed as the problem, Falconer and Donaldson went on to complete the final loop of stages.

The event marked the third round of the Hytorc Scottish Tarmack Rally Championship, and the debut of the Falconer and Donaldson pairing. Despite the teams lack of experience they began to build their confidence, and continually improved their times throughout the day. “Ailie was fantastic, you would never tell that this was her first time co-driving” said Michelle.

The Culloden Car Sales supported driver says she struggled to find confidence in the early stages of the event. “I must admit that I was struggling for confidence in the first few stages, but I was getting more confident every stage.”

Despite their lack of confidence the rookie pair were chasing leading female crew Eliza Alston and Hannah Cessford in their Peugeot 106, often completing stages just a hand full of seconds behind the experienced crew.

Although the Graham Hire team failed to finish the event they gained a wealth of experience by completing all but two of the stages. “We both really enjoyed ourselves over the event” said Falconer.

Well known as one of Scotland’s most promising young co-driving talents, Michelle says being in the driving seat presents a totally different challenge. “I think when you’re driving you’ve got so much more to think about” admitted Falconer.

While co-driver Ailie Donaldson says she enjoyed every moment. “When we first started I was really nervous, but when we were going it was great fun!”

Despite their mechanical woes, the Dalcross Bodyshop female crew had a promising debut. Although Falconer has no immediate plans to return to the drivers’ seat, she says you never know what might be round the corner. “I’ve not got any plans at the moment to drive any rallies, but we’ll see how things are later this year.”