The final rally in the 2008 Silverstone Tyres BRC Challenge dawned wet and windy, going some way to live up to the event's Tempest title.

The Suzuki South of England Tempest Rally ran as two events, the two wheel drive section accommodating three BRCC competitors who were up for a no pressure fight to the finish.

After a frustrating season Richard Sykes had top seeding of the three in his Fiesta, but family commitments meant that regular co-driver Simon Taylor could not attend, stand-in Bradley Magnus called in at he eleventh hour.

“We're out to try and win the Tempest 2 Rally outright after we led early on last year,” said the Stourbridge driver, “I think we've sorted all the driveshaft problems that have plagued us since theIsle of Man, but it is going to be difficult as the competition is more fierce this year.”

David Harrison and Glyn Thomas wheeled out their screaming Peugeot 106 for one last time before their prize drive on Wales Rally GB in December, hoping to continue their excellent form this year with another victory over Sykes.

“We're doing the rally for a crack at Richard and at the overall event win.” said David, “but we're really out for a bit of fun now the pressure for the Championship is off.”

James Watts and Oliver Ettlinger had a definite goal in their sights though; to take second overall in the BRCC. But they were the first to return to the service ahead of the rest when a driveshaft failed on the Rushmoor spectator stage.

“We're gutted,” he said, “especially as we could probably have repaired it and gone back out, but when we opened the box with the spare, we discovered it was broken too.”

The retirement left Harrison and Sykes to push each other for the win, but news filtered back to the now sunny service area that Sykes has broken a driveshaft despite all the work to resolve the problem.