The Scottish Rally Championship is a rallying series run throughout Scotland over the course of a year, that comprises seven gravel surface events.
The 2017 season began in the snow-covered forest tracks around Inverness on 18 February, with the season finale taking place around Castle Douglas on 9 September. Driver Jock Armstrong and regular co-driver Paula Swinscoe started the season as defending champions having won the 2016 Championship.
Aberdeen based haulage company ARR Craib sponsored the series for the fifth year in a row.
Following the Grampian Stages in August Euan Thorburn and regular co-driver Paul Beaton were declared champions in their Ford Fiesta R5. With only one event left to run the pair were uncatchable in the points table.
2017 calendar For season 2017 there was seven events held predominantly on gravel surfaces.
Round Dates Event Rally HQ Surface Website 1 18 Feb Snowman Rally Inverness Gravel / Snow (website) 2 18 Mar Border Counties Rally Jedburgh Gravel (website) 3 22 Apr Speyside Stages Rally Elgin Gravel (website) 4 20 May RSAC Scottish Rally Dumfries Gravel (website) 5 24 Jun Argyll Rally Dunoon Gravel (website) 6 12 Aug Grampian Stages Rally Banchory Gravel (website) 7 9 Sep Galloway Hills Rally Castle Douglas Gravel (website)
Calendar changes Due to calendar changes within the British Rally Championship, the Scottish Rally, usually held in June was brought forward to May. June, meanwhile welcomed a new event to the calendar, the Argyll Rally which saw a return to the forests of Cowal after an absence of 14 years.
2017 events podium
Round Rally name Podium finishers Placing Driver / Co-Driver Car Time /Diff leader 1Snowman Rally(18 February)1 David Bogie / Kevin Rae Škoda Fabia R5 37:512 Shaun Sinclair / Jamie Edwards Subaru Impreza WRC +0:583 Euan Thorburn / Paul Beaton Ford Fiesta R5 +1:20 2Border Counties Rally (18 March)1 Jock Armstrong / Paula Swinscoe Subaru Impreza 43:32.42 Euan Thorburn / Paul Beaton Ford Fiesta R5 +0:30.53 Mike Faulkner / Peter Foy Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +0:30.5 3Speyside Stages (22 April)1 David Bogie / Andrew Roughead Škoda Fabia R5 51:552 Desi Henry / Liam Moynihan Škoda Fabia R5 +0:393 Euan Thorburn / Paul Beaton Ford Fiesta R5 +0:42 4 RSAC Scottish Rally(20 May)1 Euan Thorburn / Paul Beaton Ford Fiesta R5 42:10.12 Jock Armstrong / Paula Swinscoe Subaru Impreza +0:35.23 Shaun Sinclair / Jamie Edwards Subaru Impreza WRC +0:58.9 5 Argyll Rally (24 June)1 Euan Thorburn / Paul Beaton Ford Fiesta R5 32:382 Jock Armstrong / Paula Swinscoe Subaru Impreza +0:043 Shaun Sinclair / Jamie Edwards Subaru Impreza WRC +0:31 6 Grampian Stages Rally (12 August)1 David Bogie / Kevin Rae Škoda Fabia R5 41:172 Euan Thorburn / Paul Beaton Ford Fiesta R5 +0:583 Paul Bird / Stuart Louden Ford Focus WRC +1:21 7 Galloway Hills Rally(9 September)1 Jock Armstrong / Cameron Fair Subaru Impreza 39:352Euan Thorburn / Paul Beaton Ford Fiesta R5 +0:033 Shaun Sinclair / Jamie Edwards Subaru Impreza WRC +0:44 Notes
Drivers' championship standings
Pos Driver Car TSR BCR SSR SCO ARG GSR GHR Points 1 Euan Thorburn Ford Fiesta R5 27 28 28 30 30 28 ** 171 2 Jock Armstrong Subaru Impreza 26 30 21* 28 28 27 30 169 3 Shaun Sinclair Subaru Impreza WRC 28 3* 26 27 27 26 28 162 4 Mike Faulkner Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 21 27 27 26 25 25 Ret 151 5 Mark McCulloch Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 9 22* 25 23 24 26 24 26 148 6 Michael Binnie Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 5 Ret 19 17 21 21 21 25 124 7 Donnie Macdonald Ford Fiesta R5 20 12 22 23 DNS 22 24 123 8 Iain Wilson Subaru Impreza 16 22 14 Ret 19 18 23 112 9 Simon Hay Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6 15 15 16 19 23 20 Ret 108 10 Rory Young Ford Fiesta R5 25 26 DNS 25 DNS DNS 27 103 Pos Driver Car TSR BCR SSR SCO ARG GSR GHR Points ** Euan Thorburn finished second overall on the Galloway Hills Rally but, having already won the SRC title, was not registered for SRC points. This was to avoid affecting championship runner-up positions.
Points are awarded to the highest placed registered drivers on each event as follows: 30, 28, 27, 26, and so on down to 1 point. At the end of the season, competitors nominate their best 6 scores out of the 7 events as their final overall Championship score.
References
External links
RSAC Scottish Rally Homepage