With 176 miles of timed-to-the-second tarmac and more twists and turns than a nest full of vipers, and just about as scary, the Isle of Man roads offer a quite different challenge to the recent Jim Clark Rally...
Competitors in this year's Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship have reached a crucial stage in the competition.
With four rounds gone and four to come, the points tables reflect the half way point in the series.
With three maximum scores from four starts, Mark Higgins looks as though he's in the driving seat, but the fight is far from over.
Leading the series until the last round, Austin MacHale failed to score when his Ford Focus expired on the
Jim Clark, so his total too is from three events out of four. Drivers are allowed to score only their best six scores from the eight round series so both drivers know what they have to do this weekend – win!
Furthermore if Higgins thinks he's on home territory this weekend, it will be MacHale's turn in five weeks time when the BRC entourage heads across the water to Northern Ireland for the Philip White Tyres Ulster Rally.
The competition is much closer in the Production Class where Lorna Smith leads by one point from Rory Galligan, but here again, competitors count only their best six scores from the eight event series. Galligan took top points from three of this year's four events with one non finish so he is the pace setter, although team-mate David Higgins has had a torrid start to his season so far and is lying in 8th place at the moment with only two scores to his credit, so he can't afford any more non-finishes.
