The reigning champion continued his blistering pace throughout the nocturnal stages, retuning to the overnight halt with a lead of over 24 seconds, having won every single stage.
His closest challenger was now the flying Finn Hanninen with Mark Higgins lying third, but confident that set up changes to the MG would bring more pace in the morning.
Adventures throughout the leader-board included Pirelli Star driver Darren Gass, driving his works Mitsubishi for the first time. 19 year old Gass had been just outside the top 10 when he slid off into a Kielder ditch on the final stage, dropping over 10 minutes.
Another to hit troubles was C2R2 pilot Martin McCormack. The young Irishman had been dominating the class until he blew his gearbox. He would return under SupeRally on Saturday, along with Mitsubishi pilot Simon Harraway.
Harraway was contesting his first ever BRC event but his rally was cut short when the fuel pump failed
en-route to the very first stage.
By contrast former British Super 1600 champion James Wozencroft was upsetting the form book on his four-wheel drive debut. Despite driving an older spec car than his team mates, he was the top Revolution Wheels driver and ended day one tenth overall, ahead of BRC regular Rob Swann, whose car was struggling with intermittent anti-lag.
The poorly supported S1600 class was led by Brian O'Mahony, but multiple European Rally champion, Simon Jean Joseph was only 5 seconds further back on the British debut of the Citroen C2-R2 MAX.
Saturday morning dawned bright and sunny, but remarkably chilly for this time of the year. Morrow showed that his 2007 pace was no fluke by topping the times on the opening stage, 4 seconds faster than his team-mate, but then Wilks corrected the deficit by winning the next competitive test.
In fact, Wilks would not be beaten again, eventually cruising back into Carlisle 1 minute and 5 seconds ahead of Hanninen.
Third overall went to David Higgins in the new Subaru Impreza N14, a promising start for the new car.
Mark Higgins had managed to keep in touch with the leaders until he retired with mechanical gremlins, but Jones upheld the honour of the new breed of rally cars. Consistently inside the top six, and with a couple of top three times to his credit, Stuart ran a faultless rally to finish sixth overall.
