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Durham Dales Rally 2003
Durham Auto Club
8th/9th March 2003
Clerk of the Course: Gordon Dundee
Route: 95 Miles
Maps: 92 & 93
Starters: 12
Winners: Peter Gibson/Richard Holdsworth (Peugeot 205 Rallye)
The result of the Durham Dales Rally had to be decided by a tie breakers as two crews ended the road rally on equal penalties. It was the fact that Peter Gibson/Richard Holdsworth had taken the fastest time over the opening section that allowed them to claim the win over David Tubman/John Tubman.
The Durham AC event, that used a 95 mile route entirely within County Durham, was the second round of the Tyneside Motor Group Championship.
Gibson/Holdsworth had dropped just a minute over the first test and shared the lead with Andy Whittaker/Charlie Tynan, Tubman/Tubman were a minute behind. Whittaker/Tynan then took the lead after Gibson/Holdsworth dropped a minute on a section defined by herring bones. However Whittaker/Tynan lost any chance of victory when they plotted the shortest section of the night incorrectly. They finished in third place well behind the winners.
Gibson/Holdsworth and Tubman/Tubman both finished the rally on nineteen minutes penalty but the time on the opening section was used to break the tie. Top seeds Malcolm Holdsworth/Chris Pringle made the same error as Whittaker/Tynan and finished in fifth.
Chris Langan/Bob Clouston won the Non-Expert Class, bringing their BMW 325i SE into sixth place overall. Crews in the Newcomers section of the rally weren’t eligible for overall awards as they were supplied with simpler navigation. The winners of this category were Chris Bransby/Steve Quinn in a Vauxhall Astra.
The only retirement of the night was the Ford Cortina Mk1 of Paddy Jones/Tony Longstaff, who withdrew with fuel feed problems.
OVERALL RESULTS
| Pos | Driver | Navigator | Car | Penalty | |
| 1 | Peter Gibson | Richard Holdsworth | Peugeot 205 Rallye | 19m 00s | |
| 2 | David Tubman | John Tubman | Peugeot 205 | 19m 00s | |
| 3 | Andy Whittaker | Charlie Tynan | Peugeot 205 GTi | 34m 00s | |
| 4 | James Tyson | Neil Harrison | Mini 1275GT | 52m 00s | |
| 5 | Malcolm Holdworth | Chris Pringle | Toyota Corolla | 86m 00s | |
| 6 | Chris Langan | Bob Coulston | BMW 325i SE | 260m 00s | |
| 7 | Stuart Bankier | Richard Gilbert | Riley Elf | ||
| 8 | Christopher Dodds | Drew Gibon | Peugeot 205 | ||
| Newcomer Class | |||||
| 1 | Chris Bransby | Steve Quinn | Vauxhall Astra | 42m 00s | |
| 2 | Chris Dodds | Andrew Gibson | Peugeot 205 | 79m 00s | |
| 3 | Peter Masters | Sarah Navin | Vauxhall Nova | 173m 00s | |