Scot David Bogie clinches British titleposted in RSCOT24 | 09 | 2011
SCOTLAND'S DAVID BOGIE, the 23-year-old from Dumfries, heads to RallyScotland, the biggest single motorsport event in the country next month, as the newly-crowned Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Champion.
The Scot, who last month sealed his third successive Scottish Rally Championship, delivered a controlled performance in the final round in Yorkshire to clinch his first British title.
Bogie, who has dominated the domestic scene for the last three years and is now tipped to graduate full-time to the Intercontinental Rally Championship (IRC), is the first Scot to win both the British and Scottish titles in the same year.
His victory comes 16 years after the last Scot to lift the title, Lanark's Alister McRae in 1995, and 19 years after Colin McRae won the last of his two BRC titles in 1992.
"It's just awesome and, to be honest, it's going to take quite a while for it all to sink in," Bogie, partnered by his longtime co-driver, Hawick's Kevin Rae, said after arriving back at rally HQ in Scarborough.
"We knew we had everything to lose this weekend, but we knew what we had to do and fortunately we've managed to keep everything together and get to the end of the rally. It's brilliant."
See more photos of David Bogie winning and celebrating the title
Bogie, who grabbed a stranglehold on the British Championship when he powered his Mitsubishi Evo IX to three wins in the opening four rounds, contented himself with third place in the International Rally Yorkshire.
Welsh rival Elfyn Evans won the rally, finishing in 1hr 15mins 56.8secs, to ease his Subaru Impreza home 28.3-seconds ahead of the Skoda Fabia S2000 of Belfast's Jonny Greer.
Bogie, who controlled his pace throughout the nine stages and 85 miles, finished 87.2s behind Greer, and a comfortable 3:31.9s ahead of fourth-placed Martin McCormack.
And Bogie will now enjoy a few days rest before be begins preparations for RallyScotland, the penultimate round of this year's IRC, which starts at Stirling Castle on Friday, October 7.
In a tough, high class international field, the Scot finished a hugely impressive fourth overall last year, and leading GpN car.
Lanark's Alister McRae leads home assault in RallyScotland
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Jim McGill
Photo: Jakob Ebrey