Arguably, the 'drive of the day' went to Steven Clark on what was his first SRC event of the year behind the wheel of his venerable Mitsubishi Evo 4.

With sister Alison in the co-driver's seat, Clark wrung every ounce of horsepower out of the car which he steered to GpN honours in 2008, to finish sixth overall, and fourth in the points.

“It's been very good - we were second quickest on the first of the Ae stages, and I'm very happy with that. Mike Faulkner was obviously on a charge to take the victory and we were only five seconds down so I think in this old bus that's quite good,” said Clark.

Young Alick Kerr had another impressive drive behind the wheel of his Subaru Impreza - his third competitive outing in a 4 wheel-drive car - to finish seventh overall and fifth in the points with co-driver Drew Sturrock.

The pair were rarely off the pace - second-equal-fastest with six other competitors through the short Heathhall spectator stage; seventh equal with Clark on SS3; fifth equal with Whitford and Armstrong on the fourth stage, Twiglees; and another seventh fastest time through the daunting - and slippery - final Ae test.

Eighth overall went to Stonehaven's Barry Groundwater and Jedburgh's Jude Wylie in their Mitsubishi Evo 9.

“It's been very hard going - we seemed to go to sleep a bit on the opening stage, and they stages have been very loose and slippery, particularly the final run through Ae which was like the driveway up to a stately home, but it's been enjoyable all the same.”

The Inverness crew of Donnie Macdonald and Paul Beaton finished ninth in their Evo 9: “Considering we were seventeenth after stage one - we hadn't woken up to be honest - we can't complain about the final result”, said Macdonald. “Obviously a few boys have gone out but it's been a great event, I like the Scottish and we'll definitely be back”.

Steve Bannister and Louise Sutherland from Hawick were again the crew to beat in the 2-wheel drives, the pair rounding off the top ten in their Escort Mk2.

In front of an appreciative crowd at the town centre finish in Dumfries, Bannister admitted the day had had its moments.

“It's been a good day but a difficult one I think for everybody - fast and dusty. If you got off line you could soon find yourself in trouble. We've certainly had luck on our side - we've had a few ditch experiences - but managed to get out of them so it can't be bad,” said the Yorkshire man.

Two of Bannister's biggest rivals both failed to finish - Inverurie's Calum Mackenzie putting his car off the road on the fourth stage after showing early promise, and John Crawford from Motherwell hitting trouble on the final Ae test.