PALLETFORCE

Rally Team Scotland’s John MacCrone put in the drive of his life this weekend to take an incredible class win and finish top two-wheel-drive car on Wales Rally GB – the final round of this year’s FIA World Rally Championship (WRC).

Stuart Loudon and John MacCrone

Battling with the world’s best young rally drivers, MacCrone and co-driver Stuart Loudon powered the Palletforce Fiesta R2 to 23^rd overall and first in class six by a commanding margin. Their performance also earned the Richard Burns and Michael Park Trophies, in memory of the two former competitors, for top British, non-priority driver and co-driver on the rally.

This class win on the UK’s most important rally event, and only their second ever WRC rally, follows a similar result on their native Rally of Scotland last month and demonstrates the pair’s ability to step-up in performance to the world level.

As members of the Motor Sports Association’s Team GB squad for the country’s most promising young drivers, the pair have been part of a specialised training and mentoring programme created to guide young drivers through to world championship level.

MacCrone, from Isle of Mull, had a steady start to the rally when it got underway at Llandudno on the north Wales coast on Thursday afternoon. But he kicked the Tunnock’s-supported car into gear on Friday, catching slower competitors on most stages.

But MacCrone’s game plan was to gain the essential experience from finishing the rally, so he was focused on combining speed with a safe, consistent pace.

Locked in a battle with the world’s best young talent competing in the FIA WRC Academy, MacCrone demonstrated he could mix it with the best and by Saturday he had moved into the class lead. He held position during today’s final six stages to take a convincing class victory and claim top two-wheel-drive runner among a host of vastly more experienced drivers.

MacCrone never put a wheel wrong all weekend and crossed the podium today in Cardiff having delivered a stunning display of speed and a measured drive over the 23 stages and 353 km of timed, high-speed action.

The team’s focus is now on securing partners to ensure a full world rally campaign next year and build on the success of this season.

John MacCrone, Rally Team Scotland driver, said: "This has been my best-ever drive and a result for the whole team to be proud of. We had a game plan to finish the rally and get the vital experience from such a long event. To be able to stick to that plan yet still come away with such a fantastic result is just amazing. We’ve shown our pace here this weekend so hopefully we can get the necessary support to contest the full WRC Academy series next year.”