Following on from a retirement last time out on the Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally, Scotsman Alistair Tough made the trip over to the Isle of Man for round three of the Subaru Group N Trophy and along with co-driver Ally Mackay, the pair ended up getting back to winning ways.

In doing so, the Bardon Aggregates sponsored team leads the championship as Alistair takes up the story…

"The Isle of Man is a mystical place, steeped with folklore, superstition and most importantly - Motorsport.

I love it !!

Since I first started going there in the 70's spannering & sponsoring Geordie Linder to race bikes, the island has always had a magical presence for me and I start getting excited months before the event.

This year was no exception but three days before we were due to leave we were gutted by the death of fellow teammate Graham Lewis whilst co driving for TEG Sport team boss Stuart Newby on the Granite City Rally in Aberdeen. Stuart had rolled the car and both were unhurt but whilst Stuart made sure the car was not going to burst into flames Graham walked back up the track to warn fellow competitors and was struck by another car which caused fatal injuries.

The whole team were in complete shock and we deliberated whether we should compete or not.

At the end of the day Graham lived and breathed rallying. There is absolutely no way he would have wanted to be the cause of anyone not competing in the sport he loved so as a team we decided that Graham would want us to continue - and we did - with style. We decaled the cars in rememberance of a proper, proper gentleman and each and every team member wore a black armband as a mark of respect and held their heads up high.

We had a plan. On the Friday night, stage two is my favourite stage on the island and stage three was the longest of the rally at 21.5 miles so we decided that we would "give it beans" over these two stages. The strategy worked and we returned to Douglas for the overnight halt in 12th position overall leading the class by some 40 seconds.

Saturday saw us taking it fairly easy to consolidate our class lead resulting in the BARDON Aggregates / Ross-Shire Engineering sponsored car finishing the rally in 11th position overall and winning the class by more than two minutes.

The Pirelli shod car never missed a beat the whole rally. On the finishing ramp as a mark of respect to Graham we declined from the traditional champange spraying and at prize presentation we dedicated the win to Graham whilst asking the audience to reflect on his passing with a "quiet" moment.

This was, none the less an absolutely stunning result and brings the RallyAli team right back in the hunt for the ANCRO Championship and also, we lead the Subaru Group N Trophy."