Talented young Subaru driver Wyn Humphreys leads the 2007 British Rally Championship following his first podium of the year on the Isle of Man (Manx) International Rally. Humphreys and co-driver Ally MacKay have joined a select group of crews, who have lead the championship in their first season in the competition.

Humphreys Stobart team mate, Mark Higgins was eyeing back to back victories on the event having taken BRC honours on the 2006 event on route to the championship in his N12 Impreza from Prodrive. This year Higgins was once again among the pace setters, lying in third position after the opening days stages. The second leg of stages were complicated by unpredictable weather, Wyn Humphreys dropped a minute after contesting wet stages on slick tyres. Higgins also ran into trouble on leg two, pushing hard to challenge the leaders he left the road after a series of high speed bumps in tricky conditions.

Higgins rejoined the rally for the third leg under super rally rules battling back to score a championship point he commented “Very disappointed to have only scored one point but we’ll use it as our dropped score at the end of the season.”

The highlight of the third leg of stages, was the battle for the final podium position between Humphreys and fellow Subaru driver Rob Swann, who had driven a solid rally in his N12 specification Impreza from Prodrive. Swann lead Humphries by just 4.2 seconds at the final service with just three stages remaining, Humphreys attacked on the first stage, reducing the gap to just 1 second, before reducing the gap to just 0.2 seconds with one stage to go. With the gap so close the final podium place was to be effectively decided by a final stage shoot out, Humphreys narrowly clinched third tacking the stage by 0.8 seconds and third place by just 0.6 seconds.

A delighted Humphries said “I just can’t believe it! After our result on the Pirelli we didn’t think we would better that and here we are on the podium in only our third international event, it’s a shame someone has to lose out in such a close battle, Rob (Swann) drove superbly all weekend and it is great that both of us made it to the finish. To be leading the championship overall is fantastic for us and the team, we can’t wait until Ulster now!”

Mark Higgins remains in the top three following his strong start to the season and Rob Swann’s excellent drive rewards him with a jump from tenth to fifth in the championship table. After three rounds Subaru drivers are well placed, occupying three of the top five positions.

The BRC now moves onto Northern Ireland for round four, the Ulster rally takes place on 31/08/07.