Photo: Roy Dempster (www.roydempster.com)
Northern Irish young charger Jonny Greer (21) has just been confirmed as 3rd place finisher on the inaugural Rally of Scotland.
Greer benefited from the misfortune of fellow countryman and 2009 IRC champion Kris Meeke, who’s Peugeot UK-backed and Kronos prepared 207 S2000 was excluded from the event due to a technical infringement after leading the rally from start to finish.
The IRC event got underway on Thursday 19th November at Scone Palace, Perth, with two super special stages taking place around the palace grounds, which made for a spectacular opening ceremony for both drivers and spectators alike.
Contesting the event in his regular Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Greer crossed the finish line in 4th place after two days of driving in difficult conditions around the forest’s the Perth and Stirling, where getting to the finish was a challenge in itself.
Greer topped the Group N leaderboard throughout all of the second leg despite coming under pressure from Scottish Rally Champion David Bogie. The Carryduff driver eventually opened up a sizeable gap on the final loop of stages with times good enough to split the Super 2000 stronghold of the top three places. With the final stage being the longest of the event at 33km Greer couldn't relax until the finish line. However, midway through the stage Bogie’s challenge came to an abrupt end when he crashed his Evo 9 at a difficult and narrow section.
.JPG "Rally of Scotland Photos copyright Roy Dempster")
Photo: Roy Dempster
Speaking at the finish, Jonny said: “I am absolutely delighted with our result, it really is the icing on the cake after a strong couple of months for me. These were the worst conditions I have ever driven in and it was so difficult having to push to the limit when the grip can change so much from corner to corner. I think we can take a lot of positives from this event which sets us up for a good season in 2010.”
A great aspect of the event was the live Eurosport coverage, an idea first introduced on the Monte Carlo Rally at the start of the year, with Rally Scotland being one of the few events opting to run live televised stages.
“The atmosphere at the start of the lives stages was something else, there was a notable buzz around," said Greer. "I was privileged to run a Eurosport camera and we got a lot of screen time out of it which is good for our sponsors and hopefully will help raise our profile.”
Jonny declined to comment on plans for 2010 but did mention that he would be sticking with the DGM run Evo 9 in the future.
“I still have to look at next year, but I will be working hard over the winter to put a strong package together for 2010,” he revealed.
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Tags: battle, bogie, carryduff, dgm, difficult conditions, elevated, great result, IRC, jonathan, jonny greer, mitsubishi evo, rally scotland, third
