The sun shone in Cumbria on Saturday 6th March however the forest stages faced a fierce challenge to competing crews who faced the treacherous icy conditions.

Andrew Barnes and Guy Simmons lost time on the first stage after hitting a tree and slid into a ditch on stage two. "The morning did not start well, conditions were so inconsistent you thought you were driving on water which was covering ice and snow packed stages with cars off everywhere. Andrew and I had a good run through the first of the Grizedale stages claiming eighth fastest time and we had pulled back to fourteenth overall when between stages with no service the sump guard became loose and we had no option but to retire" said Guy Simmons

John Lloyd and Adrian Cavenagh's rally ended after the second stage when their engineers discovered the returning bolts securing the rear diff had broken on the Ford Focus.

The event was won by BTR Team mates Steve Perez and Paul Spooner driving the VK Ford Focus WRC.

The team's next outing is the Somerset Stages Rally based in Minehead on Saturday 24th April.