All eyes on the Kumho Tyres Scottish Rally which starts out from Dumfries a week on Saturday (September 15) will be on Martin Rowe, who heads the 106 competitors on this yearıs event. The former British National Rally Champion currently leads the Formula Rally Championship, but missed out on a hat-trick of wins when he finished second on the previous round in Wales.
Rowe will be driving his Ford Puma Super 1600 flat out on the competitive sections in some of the best rally stages in the country. His determination will be to build on the four-point gap he has established between himself and Justin Dale in second place. Dale finished second to Rowe on Rounds 1 and 2, but reversed the positions in Wales in his Peugeot 106 Super GTi.
Rowe has twice finished runner-up on this Royal Scottish Automobile Club (Motor Sport) event, in 1998 and 99, in a Renault Maxi Megane but will be determined to achieve outright success in Scotland in 2001.
Rowe and Dale, both full-time professional rally drivers, have taken on a battle of their own at the head of the championship, but in the demanding Dumfries and Galloway forest tracks, it could be anyoneıs game.
Nearest rival in the seven-round championship is Ford Puma-driving Frenchman Patrick Magaud, who finished third and fourth in the first two rounds respectively, adding strength to Fordıs battle in the manufacturersı championship.
Crews in the Formula Rally Championship will tackle 65 miles of forest tracks in six timed special stages, leaving the Dumfries start at 8 am on Saturday morning, returning at approximately 4.50 pm the same day.
After an overnight halt, competitors in the National A event, run as part of the Kumho Tyres Scottish Rally weekend, will restart for the second leg of the event. The finish for these competitors is back in Dumfries on Sunday lunchtime, at the end of a 375-mile route with more than 100 miles of competitive sections.
