Inverness’ Donnie MacDonald believes achieving success at the Speyside Stages will be tougher than ever given the increased competition at this year’s event.
This weekend will be the second round of the Scottish rally championship after February’s Snowman event, following the cancellation of last month’s Border Counties rally at Jedburgh due to bad weather.
That event was also scheduled to be the opening round of the British rally championship which will now start next weekend when the Pirelli event takes place in Cumbria. MacDonald reckons the opportunity for drivers to gain racing practice has attracted additional interest in the event this year.
He said: “It will be a tall order – this will be the most competitive rally in Scotland this year. There are some boys in the British championship who are competing this year, using it to get ready for the following weekend’s rally.
“It wouldn’t normally be like this but there have been a few cancelled rallies and for all the tests you can do it is not as good as actually competing.
“This is a decisive round for a few people who are maybe sitting on the fence. Trying to be in the top three Scottish championship registered boys is my aim.”
MacDonald, who began his season with a third-place finish at his hometown event in February, is eagerly anticipating this weekend’s rally with the 50-year-old adding: “It has always been a good rally for me. The stages are very good and it looks like it’s going to be sunny this weekend so there should be a lot of high-speed stuff.
“The organisers have done a really good job promoting the event. It’s probably one of the best top-20s they have had at the event.”