WATCH: Thorburn fifth as Evans wins opener

The 2016 Mid Wales Stages was the first round of this year’s new look BRC and provided a tough test for the competitors.

Snow fell prior to the start of the event making conditions tricky to say the least.

And Euan was not without his problems with his recce car breaking down on Thursday and having to learn the stages through a DVD intstead.

Euan and co-driver Paul Beaton from Inverness in their newly acquired Peugeot 208 T16, described their fifth place as “solid”.

The Duns driver added: “Its points on the board. We have had better rallies, but we’ve learnt a lot about new car and know where we lost time and could have improved. I am looking forward to next round and improving our performance.”

Elfyn Evans and Craig Parry claimed victory, the Welsh pairing using their Ford Fiesta R5 to good effect to conquer the competition and conditions.

Crews can elect to play their ‘Joker’ on one of the first six rounds which doubles the crew’s points on that event. Having played his on familiar home territory in Wales, Evans has walked away with 50 out of 50 points.

In second place were Scandinavian crew Fredrik Ahlin and Morton Erik Abrahamsen in a similar Ford Fiesta R5 with Tom Cave and James Morgan finish third making it three Fiestas on the podium.

Fourth place went to Dumfries driver David Bogie and his Hawick co-driver Kevin Rae in their Skoda Fabia R5. Bogie recorded several top three times, but two spins left him out of touch.

Kilmarnock’s Blair Brown and his co-driver Richard Simmonds from Duns are the only Scottish competitors in the DMACK Junior BRC in their Ford Fiesta R2T.

They finished 22nd overall and sixth in their class against some tough opposition from across Europe.

The next round of the championship will see the crews cross the Irish Sea as they tackle the classic bumpy Tarmac of the Circuit of Ireland Rally on the weekend of April 8/9.