Barry Johnson set the pace from the start although, with two runs over a stage that took the WRC car drivers barely 50 seconds to complete, tenths of a second only separated the top crews. These spectator stages are important for the PBRC to promote itself to a wider audience, but most of the drivers made no secret of the fact that they couldn’t wait to get into Kielder for the remaining three stages of Leg one. One early casualty was the Mini of Neil Burgess/Anna McColl, Neil sliding wide on a tight corner and terminally damaging the steering. Neil’s judgement turned out to be spot-on though, because the car expired just outside the Pirelli hospitality tent, and the crew was last seen disappearing inside in search of something quite strong to drown their sorrows.
Those who had been looking forward to Kielder soon had cause to regret their words. By the time Mark Higgins started the 11.97-mile Harwood stage at 7.55pm, it was getting dark and the fog was closing in. Jari-Matti Latvala set the pace, but the complete lack of visibility negated any horsepower advantage, and the more nimble1600s of Higgins, Wilks and Evans were really flying, keeping Jonny Milner behind in fifth place.
Apparently the fog was as bad as most drivers could remember anywhere, especially considering that Friday evening’s three stages of Harwood, Wether Lair and Highfield represented 32 miles of very fast gravel tracks with plenty of blind crests and sharp corners thrown in for good measure. Comments ranged from 'awful' to 'never experienced problems like this before'. In short, it was carnage, and reports were coming in thick and fast of lights not working, cars being caught on the stage, and several crews off the road.
