Duggan Extends Championship Lead In Scotland

Rob Duggan successfully added to his 2016 DMACK Junior British Rally Championship advantage last weekend on round 4, the RSAC Scottish Rally. A second place finish on the Dumfries based event now sees the current Motorsport Ireland Young Rally driver of the Year heading the championship by 10 points.

Arriving in Scotland on the back of consecutive wins on the previous 2 rounds, Duggan was keen to build on his championship lead but he hit difficulty early on when a slipping clutch saw him drop time to his rivals. The Vauxhall Motorsport UK mechanics dived on the Adam in service replacing the clutch and gearbox in half an hour and Duggan set about moving up the leader board. Despite losing time early on, Duggan and co-driver Ger Conway climbed their way up to 2 nd place, setting a string of fastest times among the junior runners on the 8 stage event.

Speaking from his Killarney base after the event, Rob was naturally upbeat about his performance: “I’m delighted to have added to our championship lead in Scotland. It was a testing rally. The conditions and grip were very varied which added a layer of difficulty but once we sorted the transmission issues, we were delighted with our pace. Myself and Ger have been working hard on our pacenotes and it’s great to see that hard work paying off. Sindre (Furuseth) drove a great rally and while I was tempted to push a little harder to try and catch him, I decided it was best to drive with the championship in mind and another podium, on another new rally for me, is a real positive.

There’s a short turn around now before the Nicky Grist Stages and if I can turn in a similar performance on that event I’ll be in a very good position heading to the Ulster Rally in August.”

As he mentions, next up for Rob, Ger and the Vauxhall Motorsport UK outfit is the Nicky Grist Stages which takes place on the 9 th and 10 th of July and sees the championship make a return to Wales on tricky, technical stages which will take place on both gravel and tarmac.

To keep up to date with Rob’s exploits through the season, visit www.robduggan.com and www.vauxhallmotorsport.co.uk

Rob is supported by Rentokil Initial, Motorsport Ireland, Sport Ireland and the Team Ireland Foundation.