Galligan then went a whole 6 seconds faster over the next stage to enter the second running of Langton with a 9 second lead over Higgins and Wilks, who were tied for second. However an over exuberant exit from the Langton Ford saw him spin, costing him most of his lead and meant the rally returned to Kelso at the end of day one with Galligan leading Mark Higgins by the slim margin of 0.7 seconds. Third overall was still Guy Wilks, he was now 10 seconds behind the leaders but another 10 ahead of Ryan Champion, who led the chasing pack.
Day two began with a charge from Gwyndaf Evans, who kick started the days proceedings with a time 1.3 seconds faster than Galligan's, and 2.5 quicker than Higgins.
Stage 8, Whiteadder, featured possibly the longest river crossing in the whole championship. Apart from a few unusual lines through the ford most of the top contenders got through cleanly. However Roman Kresta endured a frustrating time when his car drowned in the ford, costing him over 4 minutes and any chance of a top result.
Two more stage wins in a row for Rory Galligan gave the Irishman a slender lead of 7 seconds over Mark Higgins, whilst Ryan Champion and Gwyndaf Evans had overhauled Guy Wilks to lie third and fourth respectively. The Welshman’s hopes of a second consecutive podium were dashed when the rear diff on his Mitsubishi Evo 9 broke on Stage 12, ending his fine run.
Stage 14 saw the current championship leader, Ryan Champion, take his first fastest stage time of the event as he set about opening the gap between himself and Guy Wilks' Suzuki. Meanwhile ahead of him the gap between Galligan and Higgins remained constant at just under 10 seconds.
Stage 16, Little Swinton 1, would be the turning point of the rally. A stage known for its notorious jumps it involved a lot of commitment, and commitment was something Mark Higgins had in no short supply and duly flew through the stage to go 6 seconds quicker than Galligan, thus reducing his lead to a mere 3 seconds with 5 stages still to go.
