With Gwyndaf Evans missing this round to concentrate on getting his MG fully prepared for the Acropolis, Justin Dale was expected to set the Super 1600 pace in his Peugeot 206, but Guy Wilks and Kris Meeke were proving much stronger competition in their Fords. Meeke in particular was showing his true potential and endorsing the faith that S-Mac and
Colin McRae (who, incidentally, flew his helicopter down from home on Saturday to check up on his protegé's progress) have put in him. Capitalising on Guy Wilks' misfortunes, Kris had worked his way up to fifth overall and clear class leader by the end of the day. Peugeot's honour, however, was upheld by Rory Galligan, second in the 1600 class, after Justin Dale had lost a lot of time with punctures and a broken throttle cable.
A hectic first day finally ended with Tapio Laukkanen holding a 21-second lead over Jonny Milner, with Marcus Dodd, David Higgins, Kris Meeke, Robert Woodside and Jock Armstrong some way behind. Tenth placed Austin McHale was over six minutes adrift, showing that the Scottish stages are like no others in their ability to spread out the field. Martin Sansom (broken engine) and Stuart Darcy (holed sump) unfortunately joined the six crews that failed to make it back to Dumfries.
If punctures and dust (not to mention the voracious Scottish midges) were features of Leg One, overnight rain made standing water and mud significant features of Leg Two. This time the rally headed east from Dumfries to take in five stages in the forests of Ae, Windy Hill, Castle O'er, and Twiglees. And for those who like plenty of drama in their rallying, Leg Two didn't disappoint.
