Nick Rowland has conceded that he is in a tough position now in the battle for the inaugural Suzuki Swift Sport Cup following the 'massive disappointment' on the Jim Clark International Rally last month.

Following a fantastic second place on the Pirelli International Rally, the first round in the Suzuki series, which runs as part of the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, Rowland arrived for the Kelso-based event excited to tackle his first proper tarmac rally. He was also hopeful of collecting another healthy haul of points.

However a good result was not to be as his Suzuki developed gearbox problems through the opening stage and, despite making it to stage 2, the car soon came to a halt.

Rowland and co-driver Tim Sturla were forced to retire from the rest of the day and re-start on day 2, with over an hours worth of penalties and no chance of a decent result.

The FX Motor Sports crew changed the gearbox with no hassle and made sure the car was perfect for the second day, which was now regarded as a testing session after the problems on day 1.

"The Jim Clark was a massive disappointment for me, not only does it put us in a tricky position in the championship, but I missed out on vital driving time on tarmac," reflected the 19-year-old.

"With not much tarmac driving under my belt, above all I needed experience of the stages and time to learn the car. However, these things happen and there is nothing anybody could have done to change that so it's just something to accept.

"It was my first rally using completely my own pace notes so it was good to get some experience of driving to my own notes, I have worked really hard to make sure they were okay for the rally and I was pleased with the outcome."

Directly after the Jim Clark meanwhile, Rowland and Sturla joined FX Motor Sports team-mates David Higgins and Ieuan Thomas for the opening round of the Chinese Rally Championship, the Shanghai International Rally.