The 2016 Rally Isle of Man got under way this evening as the final rally of the MSA British Rally Championship kicked off along Douglas promenade.
World Rally star Craig Breen and co-driver Scott Martin set the early pace as he took the super special stage victory to the joy of the Manx spectators. 2016 BRC Champions Elfyn Evans and Craig Parry started steady but eased by the Citroën DS3 R5 as they were forced out of the final stage of the evening with a sensor fault.
Evans finished the evening with a 12.3 seconds lead over fellow Welsh pairing of Tom Cave and James Morgan.
Local rally star and former BRC champion Mark Higgins finished the day in third place in the Fiesta R5 that he has had limited mileage in before the start of today’s rally.
The Manxman isn’t registered for BRC points this weekend, meaning that Fredrick Ahlin occupies the third place for points while Matt Edwards and Desi Henry make up the top 5 points scoring crews.
Rhys Yates sits in sixth place after impressing on the opening stage to post the third fastest time. Yates will head in to the first full day of action with former BRC champion David Bogie right behind him.
Jamie Anderson, Joanathan Greer and Alex Laffey all posted similar times as the battled it out for position.
Robert Duggan leads the way in the DMACK Junior BRC class in his Vauxhall ADAM R2 with Sindre Furuseth in his Renault Twingo and Adam Bustard in his Ford Fiesta R2 pushing hard.
In BRC3 it is Will Corry that leads the way while Marty Gallagher leads the BRC4 class. Donnie Macdonald is the National Rally Cup leader while championship rival Robert Blomberg chases down second placed John Morrison.