The 2006 Scottish Championship got off to a bang with the Snowman rally in Inverness.

Local rally ace and current Grp N Scottish Champion, Alistair Tough made history by being the first person in the UK to rally the latest model Subaru Imprezza N12.

The BARDON Aggregates, Ross-Shire Engineering supported driver flew through the first 7.5 miler to emerge in 5th position overall and only 7 seconds behind rally leader Barry Johnson in his WRC. Alistair commented that he had taken it fairly easy in the first stage and had overshot one of the chicanes meaning he had to stop and reverse.

At first service the suspension was softened off slightly to try and get more grip in the tricky conditions and a team decision was taken to try and catch the leaders. They set off on stage 2 Rogie at a blistering pace but about 4 miles in Alistair made an uncharacteristic mistake on a tightening left hand bend over a bridge and the new N12 came to a sudden halt hitting a tree almost head on.

Alistairs own comments were : “ The car is absolutely fantastic and it was my fault entirely – these are my local forests and I made the classic mistake of thinking I knew where I was going and not listening 100% to my navigator. By the time Ally (Mackay) shouted “bridge” I had selected 5th. gear and realized I had forgotten about the bridge and we were travelling about 25-30 mph too fast. Rather than attempt the bridge and barrel roll over the parapets I tried to slide the car off into the undergrowth but we were carrying too much forward momentum and collected the tree in front of the bridge. “

“ I am really disappointed for the team as they have put an incredible amount of work into the building of this car and will now have to burn the midnight oil to get it ready for Bournemouth this weekend. I am, none the less very upbeat about the capabilities of the car – TEG Sport have built an amazing bit of kit and I can't wait to get out in it again “

Jokingly he commented “ Not only did I make history by being the first to drive an N12 in the forest – I also made history by being the first to crash one “

This weekend is the first round of the ANCRO Championship.

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