Ellon rally driver Stevie Brown showed he was back to his class leading pace in the County Saab Scottish Rally Championship on last weekends Merrick Forest Stages Rally. Stevie and Elgin co-driver Ian Morrison were the leading front-wheel-drive car in the event up until a puncture caused the Five Mile Garage backed Fiesta ST to understeer off the road, and into eventual retirement.

The MSA British Rally Academy member started the event well, arriving at the first service halt of the day an impressive 22nd overall and first front-wheel drive car by some 25 seconds ahead of second placed man George McDonald in his ex-Kris Meeke Super 1600 Opel Corsa.

Stage three would see Brown and Morrison pick up a puncture, costing the crew over forty seconds and dropping them down to 27th.  Two clean runs over the shortest stages of the rally would see Brown and Morrison head into the final stage of the day with an incredible 41 second lead in the front-wheel drive battle, ahead of the far more powerful Opel Corsa of George McDonald, and an astonishing one minute nineteen seconds ahead of fellow Fiesta ST driver Alick Kerr.

At the final service of the day Stevie explained his plan of attack over the longest and last stage of the rally. “We’ve got over a minute lead in terms of the class, but the puncture on stage three costs us a fair bit of time. The plan for the final stage is to go on a final push as we’re only twenty seconds off nineteenth.”

Just five miles into the stage and things were however about to take a turn for the worse when the Scottish crew picked up a puncture. The Lesley Davidson Marketing supported driver explains what happened. “We went round a fairly tight left hand corner and picked up a puncture, spectators said the tyre went flat then. Straight after the corner was a fast section over a blind crest then braking for another slow left hand corner, the first we knew of the puncture was when we turned into the corner and the car didn’t respond and continued to go straight on.”

Stevie continues, “We were unfortunate that the ditch was very soft and the car had gone too far in. We managed to get some spectators to try and pull the car out but it was stuck in 2 foot of thick muck.”

Clearly a disappointing finish to the rally when it had promised so much. “For sure it’s really disheartening to have built up such a big lead and someone who’s been slower than you all day takes the win by default, especially when it’s something as silly as a puncture that causes you to retire. The problem was we didn’t know we had a flat so I braked late for the corner expecting it to turn in, but instead it continued straight on and into a ditch. There was nothing much I could do.” explained Stevie.

Despite being wedged in the boggy ditch the Fiesta ST remained un-scratched and Brown and Morrison only retired from the rally because they went over the allotted time limit. Even if the end of the rally wasn’t exactly what Stevie and the team were hoping for, he says the team can still take some positives from the day. “We’ve been having problems with the car for the last three of four rallies, now we know we have sorted the fault and can look forward to the remaining two rounds of the VK Fiesta Sporting Trophy. We weren’t doing anything silly on the last stage, but we were pushing and I would rather push and have the occasional off then just drive to the finish and win by default, to me that’s a hollow victory. We came here to prove something and we achieved that, we were the quickest front-wheel drive car all day, and were comfortably beating the other Fiesta ST’s”.

Stevie is eager to put the Merrick behind him now and is looking forward to his next MSA British Rally Elite training session. “You can’t dwell on things that have gone wrong otherwise you wouldn’t drive quickly because you’d be worrying all the time. I’m now looking forward to my next Elite session next week; two times World Rally Champion Marcus Gronholm will be on hand to do some driver coaching and 2001 World Champion co-driver Robert Reid will be doing pace note training. Maybe I’ll get some tips from Marcus on interview techniques too” joked Stevie, as the Finnish rally ace is famed for his animated and entertaining interviews.

The Colin McRae stages will mark the teams next competitive outing, an event that is particularly special to Stevie being the recipient of the Colin McRae tribute award. The event is also the final round of the County Saab Scottish Rally Championship and the penultimate round in the VK Fiesta Sporting Trophy. 

Contact Details

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