by Geoff Mayes
The last stage of the final round of the 2006 Tesco 99 octane MSA British Rally Championship appropriately summed up the entire championship. A nail biting last stage drama meant that right up until the ceremonial finish back in Cardiff no one was really sure who had won the three-day rally.
Indeed it was courtesy of the much debated SupeRally that event long leader Ryan Champion, already a double rally winner in 2006, took the laurels from young Welshman Stuart Jones who was in dominant form on the final day of the rally, winning every single stage of the day as he climbed from fifth to second in four stages.
With Mark Higgins already crowned the 2006 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Champion the main focus was on the fight for second, which no less than eight drivers could clinch. As well as this the battles for the 2006 Mitsubishi Evo Challenge, the BRC junior title and the battle for class R3 were all still to be resolved.
Day one saw the crews begin with a 17 kilometre run through a very foggy Port Talbot. With poor visibility local knowledge and confidence in your notes was almost essential. Gwyndaf Evans, a pre-event favourite, immediately went quickest, 2 seconds quicker than Phil Morrow and 4.5 seconds faster than Champion who suffered a puncture near the end of the stage. Alistair McRae, making the international debut of the new Toyota Corolla S2000 was down in 10th position as he took the first couple of stages easy.
