Rally - Isle of Man

Mixed fortunes for our lot on the final round of the British Rally Championship at the weekend on the Rally Isle of Man with top placed Scottish driver David Bogie in 7th place overall first time out in a new Skoda Fabia. In a season which initially showed great promise, luck hasn't been with the former British Champ and he finished 7th overall in the Championship points standings.

Bogie’s CA1 Sport teammate Alex Laffey scored his best ever BRC result with seventh while Donnie MacDonald and Andrew Falconer magicked a magnificent 10th overall - and this from someone who once said he doesn't like tarmac!

Donnie finished top National Cup contender which was good enough to secure 2nd overall in the BRC Nat Cup competition just missing out on the title by 17 points. That sounds a lot but he missed 2 rounds of the Championship on his way to 2nd. Sweden's Robert Blomberg arrived on the Isle of Man after a hat-trick of victories needing fourth place or better in the class results to take the title. Despite finishing 16 places behind Donnie on the leader board, Blomberg, in his Mitsubishi Mirage, was the second NRC driver home and therefore lifted the trophy at the end of the event.

Lee Hastings had another typical 'Hastings' rally finishing 43rd overall, but that was still good enough for him to finish 3rd in the Nat Cup competition behind Donnie and title winner Robert Blomberg, so there's much to be proud of here.

Top Scot was Kirsty Riddick guiding Jonathan Greer home in 6th place overall, but that earned Kirsty sufficient points to claim 3rd overall in the BRC Co-Drivers Championship.

Blair Brown finished on a high after a troubled season. Just outside the top 30 overall in the wee Fiesta was good enough for 8th in class while Thaarique Fazal earned himself a finish in 100th place overall in the Nova. Given the troubles he's had this year, the finish podium was a rarely visited, but welcome sight! And this on one of the longest and toughest rallies of the year.

138.com Rally Isle of Man - Final Results:

1, Elfyn Evans/Craig Parry (Ford Fiesta R5)   2:06:14.3

2, Mark Higgins/Darren Garrod (Ford Fiesta R5) +0:00:05.9

3, Tom Cave/James Morgan (Ford Fiesta R5 Evo) +0:01:22.3

4, Desi Henry/Liam Moynihan (Škoda Fabia R5) +0:01:33.9

5, Matt Edwards/Will Rogers (Ford Fiesta R5) +0:03:35.9

6, Jonathan Greer/Kirsty Riddick (Citroën DS3 R5) +0:03:57.0

7, David Bogie/James O'Reilly (Škoda Fabia R5) +0:05:23.2

8, Alex Laffey/Andrew Roughead (Ford Fiesta R5 Evo) +0:09:23.2

9, Robert Duggan/Gerard Conway (Vauxhall Adam) +0:13:06.0

10, Donnie MacDonald/Andrew Falconer (Mitsubishi Evo 9) +0:13:41.7 (1st N6 class)

12, Shaun Sinclair/Neil Shanks (Mitsubishi Evo 10) +0:14:32.6 (2nd N6)

13, Barry Groundwater/Mike Hendry (Mitsubishi Evo 10) +0:14:55.0 (3rd N6)

29, Brian Watson/Cameron Fair (Mitsubishi Evo) +0:20:49.6

31, Blair Brown/Steven Clark (Ford Fiesta R2T) +0:21:50.1 (8th in class)

33, John Morrison/Peter Carstairs (Mitsubishi Evo 9) +0:22:24.7

36, Jim McDowall/Charlotte McDowall (Subaru Impreza) +0:24:15.5

43, Lee Hastings/Julie McGuire (Subaru Impreza) +0:25:35.6

100, Thaarique Fazal/Amanda Burney (Vauxhall Nova) +1:03:24.5

103, Wayne Sisson/Patrick Walsh (Mitsubishi Evo 10) +1:09:12.4

MSA British Rally Championship for Drivers points (after 7 of 7 rounds)
1 Elfyn Evans, 185 Pts
2 Tom Cave, 101
3 Jonathan Greer, 75
4 Fredrik Ahlin, 65
5 Josh Moffett, 52
6 Desi Henry, 49
7 David Bogie, 46
8 Matt Edwards, 26
9 Martin McCormack, 18
10 Rhys Yates, 17