Despite being forced to battle changeable conditions throughout the event, Paul Bird and co-driver Ian Windress picked up a comfortable victory by just under a minute on the fourth round of the Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship; the Manx Telecom Rally.

Having never having won around the Manx lanes in eight years of trying, Bird and Windress took maximum points after a controlled drive in their Ford Focus WRC07 to see off championship rivals Marcus Dodd and Andrew Bargery and the similar Ford Focus of Steve Perez and Stephen McAuley - as well as the major Group N runners - to throw the series wide open at the halfway stage.

After clutch problems had beset him on the opening stage on Friday night, Bird bounced back to set fastest time on ten of the next twelve stages to build a lead of over a minute before easing off on the final couple of tests to ensure his inaugural victory on the Island, to add to the TT successes gained by his motorcycle racing team over the years.

Winner of the previous three rounds, Dodd had no answer to the 2005 champions and was happy to settle for fourth place overall behind the Subarus of non-registered crews Melvyn Evans and Roger Duckworth meaning second placed ANCRO points, with Perez, who seemed eternally blighted by an incorrect tyre choice, one place further back in fifth overall and taking third place on the ANCRO podium.

“Wrong tyres again,” was a recurring comment from Perez over the weekend. “Even the bloody spare was wrong…”

Championship leaders Daniel Barry and Martin Brady won the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evo Challenge round ahead of Nik Elsmore/Craig Drew while Simon Hughes/Craig Parry were third – despite all having their moments around the challenging Manx stages.

Sadly for Alan Cookson and Julian Wilkinson, they retired their Subaru on SS11 with gearbox problems meaning they were the only registered crew to not finish the tortuous event, with the Bird the man with most to celebrate at the Douglas finish.

"This is a very important win as I thought that the Manx may just prove elusive and this place means an awful lot to me,” he said. “I've been close in the past but to win is amazing and vitally important as Marcus was getting a bit of a foothold in the championship.

“It was a tough event and tyre choice was a nightmare but the boys at TEG Sport have done a great job for us and it's great to get that win under our belts this season. The job's a dream and it's time to go and celebrate."

Following the Manx event, Barry leads the championship standings by four points from fellow Evo Challenge runner Hughes, with Dodd a point further back in third. Bird's Manx victory means he now lies in third place and is ten points away from top spot.

Bird, as well as Perez, will miss the next event – the Severn Valley National Rally – later this month due to their participation in Sol Rally Barbados.