Rally - Bogie leads

The first stage of this year's Arnold Clark Thistle Hotels Snowman Rally was a real, wet, slippery, guttery affair. According to Euan Thorburn: "Even on a 500 yd straight, just one wheel off line would have you going from lock to lock - at 6000 rpm in top gear!"

David Bogie was fastest though: "We actually hung back behind Euan before the start of the first stage but it's so slippery in there, I don't think it will clean up much at all for the later runners."

First car through the stage was actually Quintin Milne: "That was a mistake, going in first. It was hard to judge braking points and get grip out of the chicanes it was just so wet and muddy. There were actually 12 chicanes, not just 10 and we had a wee spin at the second last one."

Jock Armstrong posted the third quickest time, but just happy to get through it and reach service: "I got going OK, then I didn't get going, if you see what I mean. The stage started well for me following Quintin's lines and I was able to be a bit tidier on the corner exits than he was then it just got even wetter. Pleased to get through it."

Barry Groundwater wasn't a fan of the conditions either: "If you get off line at all you're in the skitters. We had quite a few skittery moments in there."

Bruce McCombie made it through first time out in his new Lancer: "It was so slippy in there I was surprised to see no-one off." He must have missed Donnie MacDonald: "I had a straight-on and it stalled. Then once I got it started and got going again, it cut out again. We'll need to have a look at service.

For the moment, the weather doesn't quite know what to do. One minute the sun is shining, the next a wintry squall is sweeping across the Dingwall tarmac.

Leaderboard after SS1 (of 5):
1, D Bogie, 8m 30s
2, E Thorburn, 8m 48s
3, J Armstrong, 8m 57s
4, M Faulkner, 9m 01s
5, D Brown, 9m 07s
6, S Clark, 9m 09s
7, Q Milne, 9m 12s
8, F Loudon, 9m 16s
9, B Goundwater, 9m 18s
10, F Wilson, 9m 22s