Rally of Scotland Day 2: Smith and Chapman Delighted With International Debut

The junior rally crew of Colin Smith and Craig Chapman turned in a very impressive performance to finish the Rally of Scotland fourteenth overall and second in class. The Aberdeenshire youngsters survived a grueling three-day slog through the wet and muddy forests of Scotland to take a stunning result on their international rallying debut in a Honda Civic Type-R.

The final leg of the rally saw crews head west to take on the Trossachs stages in Stirlingshire. While the location may have changed, the weather remained the same with heavy rainfall throughout the day. Nonetheless, Colin and Craig maintained their consistent pace to stay on the road in challenging conditions, bringing the EuroRallye owned, Andrew Wood Motorsport-run Honda back to headquarters in one piece.

With the oil leak that had troubled Smith (22) and Chapman (25) having been repaired overnight, the pair were able to concentrate fully on the tests through the Trossachs, opened up to Scottish rallying for the first time in over a decade. Even a mammoth 23-mile stage down the side of Loch Ard couldn’t throw the concentration of Smith and Chapman, who emerged ecstatic from their vehicle at the rally finish after a steady day of driving.

The result also means Smith and Chapman score points for Honda in the two-wheel drive constructors’ section of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, and their contribution has helped the Japanese marque to overhaul Abarth-Fiat and secure second place in the title race.

“I can’t believe where we’ve finished compared to where we started!” declared an ecstatic Colin after completing the stages. “The aim was always to get to the end, and we really took it steady all day. We were passing quite a few cars that had gone off on the longest stage, though, so our approach seems to have paid off.”

“We’ve ended up second two-wheel drive in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge on this event and second of the Honda cars,” the Oldmeldrum project engineer continued. “To be honest I’m still not used to the Civic and was finding a little more speed towards the end, but as I said getting a finish was the target and we did that!”

“We might not have been the out and out fastest, but we got there,” added Westhill co-driver Craig. “The support we have received from everyone has been nothing short of tremendous and all the help we have received over the last few weeks and months has made this possible.”