PALLETFORCE

Palletforce Rally Team driver John MacCrone has delivered a strong performance to finish as top Scottish driver on the high-profile Rally of Scotland – the UK’s round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

His clever driving in the orange Fiesta R2 also claimed a class victory and ensured he finished as second two-wheel-drive car amidst a field of extremely experienced drivers from across the world.

MacCrone, from the Isle of Mull, lined up alongside fellow countrymen David Bogie, current British and Scottish Rally Champion, and former world rally driver Alister McRae - but he came out on top after the challenging forest conditions took their toll on many crews.

Rally of Scotland, which took place around Perth and Stirling, is renowned for providing some fantastically fast, but technically difficult, forest rally stages. Saturday’s heavy rain made the conditions even more tricky but MacCrone, and co-driver Stuart Loudon, were more than up for the challenge.

They started cautiously on Friday night’s two passes through Carron Valley before setting a blistering quick time through Saturday’s demanding 13.16km Drummond Hill test – finishing 24 seconds faster than their closest class rival.

The Palletforce-supported crew then focused on consolidating and controlling their advantage throughout the day, even though a puncture on Saturday’s penultimate test dropped them 20 seconds.

Sunday’s competition proved even more challenging and the rough conditions inflicted damage to the rear beam of the little Fiesta. This caused it to slew across the gravel roads and MacCrone picked up another two punctures during the final day’s action as he fought to keep his car on the road.

With two runs through the longest stage of the event, the 27.08km High Corrie test, it was certainly no easy cruise to the finish.

But as other drivers faltered, MacCrone and Loudon stayed focused on their objective of finishing this tough event and rolled over the Scone Palace finish ramp as class winners and top Scots.

The weekend’s rough gravel experience will certainly help as the team prepare for its next event, Rally GB, the final round of the FIA World Rally Championship. This classic event runs from 10-13 November and takes in some formidable rally tests as it runs through the length of Wales.

John MacCrone said: “This is a great finish to a tough event and it means a lot to come home as top Scottish driver on my country’s top rally. We took a different approach to this rally and the aim really was to get to the finish – but we still delivered some fast times at key points during the weekend. The stages were quite rough in places so it was important to control the pace and push where it was possible. Now we look forward to Rally GB, and this has certainly helped us gain valuable preparation mileage for that event.”