And so it was that John MacCrone and Kirsty Riddick swept to victory on the 2026 Beatson’s Building Supplies Mull Rally. Although harried all the way by Hugh Hunter and Andy Marchbank, the Fiesta Rally2 failed to catch the flying Escort Mk2, but it was close, the leaders were separated by just 39 seconds at the finish after 133 miles of narrow, sinuous, bumpy, ditch and rock lined tarmac. Finishing third were Scott MacBeth and Andrew Falconer in the VW Polo R5 moving up from sixth place previously held by Jonathan Mounsey and Richard Wardle, but lost out when their Ford Fiesta R5 slipped off the road in the 21 mile opening test of the final Leg.
As for the ‘giant-killers’, Ross Hunter and Chris Dodds also lost out on a top ten finish when their Peugeot 208 Rally4 also slipped off the road, but Luke Constantine and Ifan Devine scored a quite sensational 7th place finish in their front wheel drive, 1.2 litre, 3 cylinder, Opel Corsa Rally4. Every bit as impressive, perhaps even more so, was the ninth place finish of a rather elderly, ever so slightly battle scarred, 20 year old Peugeot 206 crewed by ‘Dangerous’ Des Campbell and Rhys Donaldson, and this result surely topped that mighty impressive 11th place finish on the 2019 Jim Clark Rally up against the best of British.
Throughout the field of 87 finishing crews there were many tales to be told, successes recorded and near-misses recalled but only a few can be highlighted here. 22 year old Lewis Hooper with old-hand Steven Brown finished 12th overall in their Fiesta R2 while Junior 1000 graduate Ollie Forrester with Chloe Fleming, the number 62 seeds, scored a marvellous 14th place finish in the wee Citroen C2R2. And didn’t Sarah Hunter do well, with James Braithwaite the number 82 seeds, finishing 17th overall in their Ford Fiesta.
Other results of note included Stevie Brown, the man behind the microphone, and Leesa Watson finishing 20th in a Vauxhall Nova, European Championship co-driver Cameron Fair, having swapped Pace Notes for driving gloves, and Scott Paterson were 32nd in another Vauxhall Nova and they finished just ahead of the gallant wee Rover Metro of Innes and Kirsty Mochrie.
Nikki Addison drove her Honda Civic round to 44th place with Callum Atkinson while another Junior 1000 graduate, Ruan Lowry with Ian McRae finished 54th in their Citroen C2. Iain ‘Phooey’ Noble and grandson Iain MacDonald also scored a finish in the Hillman Avenger as did Marc McCubbin with Steven Whittet in the diminutive SEAT Mii. Of course there were many, many more, and we all have our own favourites, but to finish a Mull Rally is a victory in its own right. It’s not only ‘the Best Rally in the World’, as advocated by one Ian Grindrod Esq no less, but it’s also one of the toughest.
And so the Isle will fall silent once again allowing the stags to take up their rightful position as kings of the island – until next year! Maybe next time I will be allowed to stay longer and witness more.
Provisional Leaderboard after Leg 3:
1, John MacCrone/Kirsty Riddick, 2h 11m 58.4s
2, Hugh Hunter/Andy Marchbank, 2h 12m 37.4s
3, Scott MacBeth/Andrew Falconer, 2h 13m 35.6s
4, Stephen Thompson/Larry Higton, 2h 15m 54.9s
5, James Hall/Tom Murphy, 2h 17m 42.2s
6, Colin O'Donoghue/Evan MacBride, 2h 17m 43.3s
7, Luke Constantine/Ifan Devine, 2h 18m 42.1s
8, Hugh Brunton/Richard Crozier, 2h 20m 23.6s
9, Des Campbell/Rhys Donaldson, 2h 22m 14.5s
10, Andy Woodward/Harry Stubbs, 2h 22m 29.9s
#ScottishRally #RallyScotland
#MotorsportBooks
https://fife-motor-sports-agency.square.site/
