Blairgowrie’s Finlay Retson and his Inverness co-driver Paul Beaton topped the podium at the 2023 McDonald and Munro Speyside Stages in Elgin.
They finished 29 seconds ahead of top seeds Jock Armstrong (Castle Douglas) and Hannah McKillop (Melrose) with Huntly’s John Wink and Will Atkins (Whitchurch) a further five seconds behind.
They pipped Michael Binnie (Cornhill on Tweed) and Claire Mole (Duns) for the final podium spot but Binnie congratulated Wink for his fine finish at his home event.
He said: “It was a day of what could have been but we are still absolutely buzzing to come away with fourth overall on our R5 debut and set three fastest stage times getting there.
“Unfortunately on the first gravel test on Saturday morning the car cut out mid-stage, costing us 35-40 seconds going off the in-car footage. Lucky with a re-boot it fired up again and didn’t glitch for the rest of the day.
“We had a fantastic battle with John Wink which went down to the wire for the final podium position, one second separating us in the end. We are so happy for John and his team on their home event!”
It was the 25th anniversary of the race and the second event in this year’s Scottish Rally Championship calendar.
As part of the 25-year celebrations, the first two stages took place on Friday night in the darkness.
Deeside duo Bruce McCombie (Banchory) and Michael Coutts (Torphins) finished in ninth spot overall.
The pair were seeded eighth and maintained their run of not finishing outwith the top 10 since 2012.
McCombie, who was in a new car after selling their Ford Focus WRC at the end of last season, said: “Happy with ninth overall at the Speyside stages. We knew it was going to be a big learning curve.
“No rallying since the Grampian last year, night stages and an R5 car! Had a good run through the night stages, Saturday morning was good but just couldn’t get the confidence to commit in the afternoon in the fast-flowing stages.”
GALLERY: Crowds descend on Cooper Park for Speyside Stages Rally 2023
