Meeke in driving seat as Rally of Scotland builds to a big finish

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THE first Rally of Scotland looks likely to be settled between an Irishman and an Englishman after Kris Meeke and Guy Wilks dominated in Perthshire yesterday.

Dungannon's Meeke, who secured the series in the penultimate round at San Remo, started in the lead after Thursday's two opening stages.

After five more gruelling circuits, the 30-year-old parked up at rally HQ in Stirling last night delighted to remain in pole position.

It was not all plain sailing, though, for the Peugeot UK driver.

Wilks tugged at the champion's mud-flaps all day in his Skoda UK Fabia.

He took victory at Blackcraig and the day's second last stage of Drummond Hill, slashing Meeke's lead to 5.6 seconds.

However, Meeke showed why he has won this year in Brazil, Portugal, Belgium and Italy by dominating the final second run over Craigvinean.

Posting a time of 11min 21 sec, he closed the day 21.2sec up on his English rival. “I'm feeling a lot better than I was after the second last stage," said Meeke.

“We had a good run at the end.

“That monster stage at the climax at Loch Ard is going to be a real challenge, but we've got a good cushion now."

Closest to the leading pair was Lanark's Alister McRae, who looks a good bet for a podium place on his return to Scotland.

The 39-year-old ran consistently behind Meeke and Wilks in his Proton Satria S2000 and was rewarded with a second-place finish on the final stage at Craigvinean. He sits in third place after seven stages.

Scottish champion David Bogie will go into today's finale in fifth.