Day 2 / Leg 2 started at Ocean Terminal at a rather unfriendly 5.30am, with the surviving crews facing a further 14 demanding stages around Duns. The major difference from the previous day was sunshine – and plenty of it – so any uncertainty over tyre choice was instantly removed from the equation and slicks were unanimously the order of the day. It was, however, a mechanical rather than a weather-related problem that provided the first drama of the day. Irish tarmac specialist Derek McGarrity, leading the field by nine seconds, had a bearing break in the Subaru's centre differential and retired on the first stage of the morning with no drive. Having inherited the lead, Jonny Milner then spun it away on the next stage, ending up in a ditch but luckily able to continue without damage. Robert Woodside, revelling in the dry tarmac conditions and having banished any thoughts of slippery forests from his mind, found himself leading the event, but lost it after Milner went from fourth to first after a spectacular run over the Chirnside stage. (Incidentally,
Jim Clark is buried in the Chirnside churchyard).
The afternoon then developed into a fierce fight between Milner and Nesbitt, with fortunes ebbing and flowing on every stage right up until the incident already described. In the end, Nesbitt took a well-deserved victory, and, having registered for the Championship, earned himself 10 points.
Others, meanwhile, had been less fortunate: Austin MacHale retired his Corolla when a broken exhaust threatened to set fire to the centre-diff hydraulics; Guy Wilkes's works Ford Puma's engine overheated; Gwyndaf Evans suffered yet another blown engine after his usual promising run; Katsushiko Taguchi (works Group A Lancer) went out with unspecified mechanical problems; and Marco Veroni (Renault Clio) had his first non-finish of the year after his gearbox broke.
