A delighted David Higgins emerged from the depths of Wark Forest after a superb drive saw him win the opening round of the Kwik Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship. Higgins and co-driver Chris Wood totally dominated with 8 fastest times on the 10 stage event and his victory on the Pirelli International Rally was probably doubly satisfying as he matched elder brother Mark who won the Gateshead based event in 2002.

At the colourful finish in Gateshead's futuristic Baltic Square, Higgins Hyundai was over two minutes ahead of Alistair Ginley/Rory Kennedy (Impreza), they in turn were over a minute ahead of Paul Bird/Andrew Bargery who were mighty relieved to see the finish ramp as their Focus' gearbox was on it's last legs. Steve Perez/ Dan Barritt (Focus) and Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry(Subaru) battled it out to the finish, with only 18 seconds between them and young Mathew Wilson had a dream International debut, bringing his Focus home a splendid sixth overall.

Reigning British Champion's Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech retired their Team Dynamics Subaru at the final Service Halt at Hexham, with no prospect of finishing in the points following their roll in Wetherlair, it wasn't deemed worth carrying on.

The Production class honours went to Sebastian Ling who brought his Mitsubishi home nearly a minute ahead of Dorian Rees (Impreza) and Neil Buckley (Mitsubishi). Rob Swann (Mitsubishi) dropped back when he hit a rock, smashing a wheel and having to stop and change it, and Nathan O'Connor struggled to the finish with gearbox problems.

There was great disappointment for Alessandro Broccoli in the Super 1600 category, the long time leader struggling through the last two stages with braking problems which dropped him to third behind Aki Teiskonen, who was really flying, climbing to tenth overall, and Barry Clark. The battle in this class was a feature of the weekend and should see some interesting competition as the season progresses.

A delighted, not to mention relieved, Willie Bonniwell took the honours in the first Fiat Stilo Cup round, his car limping home stuck in third gear and without the power steering working. Chris Davies tried to close the gap but was still thirty seconds adrift at the finish, Shaun Wooffinden fought back from his earlier problems to finish third.