OSIAN Pryce completed a hat-trick of Prestone MSA British Rally Championship podiums as he stormed to a second place finish on the RSAC Scottish Rally.

The Machynlleth driver’s second consecutive runner-up position in the BRC moved him to within four points of the lead of Britain’s premier rally series.

The third round went right down to the wire on the final stage of the final day, with homegrown hero David Bogie and co-driver Kevin Rae securing the win.

Bogie and Rae had enjoyed a ding-dong battle with the fellow Skoda Fabia R5 crew of Fredrik Ahlin and Torstein Eriksen, until the Scandinavian pairing were forced out of the event with a damaged radiator.

Pryce and Dale Furniss, in their Spencer Sport-prepared Ford Fiesta R5, repeated their Pirelli International Rally result in second, while Marty McCormack and David Moynihan took their second top three finish of the year, rounding out the rostrum after a gruelling weekend.

While Pryce had his eyes firmly fixed on the big prize in Dumfries, he was happy to head home after another consistent result following the 10th and final stage.

“The bigger picture is looking pretty good after Scotland,” commented Pryce.

“We start every rally wanting to win, that’s what we’re here for, but I’m pleased with what we’ve achieved, both on this rally and from the first half of the season.

“Three consecutive podiums and second on the last two is just the positive start to a new car and a new team that we wanted.”

Fifth after two runs through Friday night’s Mount Joe stage, Pryce and co-driver Dale Furniss were frustrated with a rocky start to the season’s third round.

“We got a left-rear puncture on the second stage,” said Pryce. “We were only three miles in, so we had to drive on it for five miles. That stage was really rough.

“A few of the guys threw caution to the wind and got away with it, and maybe we should have also gambled a bit more.

“It wasn’t the best start, but the roads definitely improved on the Saturday.”

The rain which started on the Friday evening, however, continued for most of Saturday’s six stages around Dumfries and the Alphera/Hills Ford Fiesta R5’s climb looked like it might have peaked on the stage mid-way through the Saturday.

“Smoke started pouring out of the dash, and Dale and I thought we had a proper fire starting in the car” desribed Pryce.

“We were just getting ready to pull over when we turned off the heated windscreen and discovered that it had been a short which turned into an electrical fire.

“The smoke stopped so we were able to crack on, but after that we had another puncture near the end of SS8, which cost us a bit more time. Apart from those problems, however, the car ran really nicely.”

The event ended on a high as Pryce and Furniss registered a fastest time and another step was climbed on the podium.

“We missed fastest time by a couple of seconds when we got the puncture, but we got one on the last stage which was a really positive way to finish,” said Pryce.

“We’re competing against guys who are in their second or third season with these R5 cars, whilst this is our third event and only my fifth in a four-wheel drive car.

“To be the front-running M-Sport car is a great shot in the arm for us.”