It was a blink-and-you’ll-miss –it debut season for John MacCrone and the Watermans Rally team in the 2016 Scottish Rally Championship.
Given it was the rally ace’s return to action following a serious accident in last year’s Mull Rally, he raced well in a challenging field.
The first event, the Snowman, saw the Watermans Team finish a respectable 18th overall in sleet and icy conditions. It also offered J-Mac chance to gel with his co-driver for large parts of the season, Rhianon Gelsomino.
At the second stage in the Borders Counties Rally, a mechanical mishap (something that would dog the team over the course of the season) undid a promising start in the low winter sun as a turbo clamp failure ruined the rally with the Watermans Fiesta R5 in fifth place overall.
J-Mac’s pace continued to improve as he got back up to speed behind the wheel, but bad luck struck again at the Speyside Stages Rally. Remarkably, John managed a fourth place overall but felt the broken drive shaft ruined any chances of sealing a maiden SRC win.
But he didn’t have to wait much longer. In Round 5, the Grampian Stages, everything clicked for the Flying Islander and his Australian co-driver as they blew the field away, taking first in two individual stages and the rally overall.
In the final stage of the season, Galloway Hills, J-Mac and co-driver Stuart London failed to finish. However, the win in the fifth round did John’s confidence and future championship prospects no harm after a challenging year.
Check out the best of the action from John’s campaign in this video.