Last updated 19:25, Thursday, 20 November 2008

RALLY boss Malcolm Wilson showed that he can still do the business behind the wheel when he won the 2008 Roger Albert Clark (RAC) Rally.

OLD(ISH) MASTER: Malcolm Wilson steers his Ford Escort MkII to victory in the Roger Albert Clark (RAC) Rally

The M-Sport founder, who runs the Ford and the Stobart teams in the World Rally Championship, is a former British champion and WRC competitor.

Last weekend he drove a Kick Energy/Pirelli-supported Stobart Ford Escort Mk2 in the RAC with John Millington beside him.

After two spectator stages on Friday night, and a further two on Saturday morning in Leeds, the proper action got under way as Wilson proceeded to win 10 stages on the trot and head into Saturday night’s service with a commanding lead of one minute 42 seconds over Irishman Martin McCormack.

Sunday saw McCormack fight back and after 20 stages the gap was down to just 56 seconds.

Unfortunately, McCormack slipped off the road on stage 21 handing the former British Rally Champion a five-minute lead to his closest opponent David Stokes by the close of the day.

It was a superb effort by Wilson to dominate the event which was helped by co-driver Millington who, as a former Motorsport News Road Rally Champion, had a wealth of experience on the maps and of the route they would encounter.

The RAC Rally’s route is a challenge to crews and this year was no exception, with the competition kicking off on Friday night in Leeds before making its way north through Yorkshire and Cumbria on Saturday including two service stops in Carlisle.

Sunday then took crews to south west Scotland and the Dumfries and Galloway region before heading east today for the final stages in Kielder Forest.

In total a whopping 946 miles were covered, 204 of those competitive over 31 stages.

The concept behind the event in recent years has been to replicate the original style of the British round of the world championship both geographically and mechanically.

This saw a raft of exceptionally maintained and presented historic rally cars, including the legendary Ford Escort Mk2, Lancia Stratos Group 4 and Porsche 911, all pitching for the spot of 2008 RAC Rally champion.

Wilson said: “I’m absolutely overjoyed. Roger Clark was my hero and to come back and win the rally that carries his name is a real joy.

“It’s so easy to forget the physical effort required and in the old RAC rallies we didn’t really have many second passes over the stages but here I found it really demanding. However, it’s also very rewarding to know I can still be reasonably competitive.

“I knew, after competing on the McRae Stages, just how difficult this rally would be and I trained hard for it and it’s really paid off.

“But I have to take my hat off to Milly. He was fantastic on the maps and his preparation for the rally was first class; he left no stone unturned.

“The boys in the team here have done a stunning job as well. The car was only started on the morning of the rally and it’s run like clockwork with no major problems at all. And I can’t believe I haven’t put a scrape on it either – that’s not like me.”

Result (top five): 1, Malcolm Wilson/John Millington (Ford Escort Mk2 RS1800) three hours 42 minutes 01 seconds; 2, David Stokes/Guy Weaver (Ford Escort RS1600), at 6.24; 3, Seamus O'Connell/Paul Wakely (Ford Escort Mk2) at 9.56; 4, Charlie Taylor/Steve Bielby (Ford Escort) at 10.19; 5, Phil Squires/Mick Squires (Ford Escort RS1800) at 11.34.