In the S1600 battle Wilks was way out front after Ford WRC test driver Roman Kresta had retired with diff problems and team-mate Barry Clark was hampered with a puncture.
Stage 4 was the first run of the 'P zero' spectator stage in Carlisle. Once again there was a new stage winner, as Phil Morrow equalled Mark Higgins time around the short spectator stage.
As the cars headed to first service Mark Higgins held a slender 11 second lead over Champion, with Evans now third, a further 2.4 seconds further back.
David Higgins was in dire need of a new diff, whilst a couple of other drivers were complaining about gearbox problems. Clark changed the set up on his car during service and was confident that he would have more feeling through the afternoon stages.
Stage 5 was Shepherdshield, a typical Kielder stage. Unusual cambers, very fast straights and notorious bumps waiting to throw the unsuspecting off line. Despite incurring a penalty for leaving service late David Higgins went quickest through the 8 and a half miler. 0.6 seconds slower was Milner, the fuel feed problem now sorted. Champion lost time as he suffered a puncture and the clutch failed on him. Further back young Stephen Petch Jnr endured a wild moment when an incorrect pace note meant he crested a brow flat out in 5th to discover that there was a 90 degree right hand corner right there. A quick yank on the handbrake saw Petch's Mitsubishi sail off into the undergrowth backwards at 90 mph, doing substantial damage to the rear of the car! He eventually got going again but had lost a lot of time.
Stage 6 was a re-run of Bower, and the Higgins brothers were once again quickest through the stage, David going 7 seconds quicker than his first run through to win the stage. Despite having no clutch Champion was 4th quickest and only 2 seconds behind Evans in the fight for second overall.
