MALVERN rally crew Bob Ceen and Alistair Douglas in their Subaru Impreza were aiming to finish in a points scoring position and ideally within the top ten in the opening round of the Pirelli British Rally Championship, the Pirelli International Rally last weekend.

They saw action initially on a floodlit "super-special" stage in the heart of Newcastle on Friday night. Thousands of spectators were treated to some frantic action as each crew roared round the one-mile course, trying to set the fastest time.

Bob and Alistair had a time-consuming spin and ended up in tenth place, but they knew that the real action started the next morning when the rally moved into the daunting Kielder Forest complex.

Bob and Alistair suffered mixed fortunes, collecting two punctures, which resulted in them tumbling down the order. A succession of very fast stage times put them back inside the top group again and they managed to regain 15th place overall at the end of Day one. Their target was still to climb into the top ten, but a top six finish (and some overall championship points) looked out of reach.

Day two began badly, when the highly modified engine in the Malvern crew's Impreza refused to start.

Eventually, the problem was traced and rectified, but not before incurring a 40-second penalty, which pushed them down the order without completing a stage!

Having studied the positions, Alistair decided that their class position was fairly safe and would yield some points, but that their hopes of being in the top ten were now dashed. Reluctantly, Bob agreed and drove for a finish, although they set ninth quickest time on the final stage.

They completed the event in 11th place overall and 5th in class. In the Championship, Bob now lies 5th in class and Alistair 4th.

Channel 4 television will be broadcasting a full report on the Pirelli International Rally tomorrow (Saturday) at 11.30am.

Bob and Alistair are already preparing for the next event, the Rally of Wales, on May 18/19.

Their hopes are high for a good result, as this is Bob's home event.

Full details of the route can be found on the Pirelli British Rally Championship website at www. brcweb.co.uk.