I’ve just about recovered from the whirlwind that was the Manx Rally!

It was my first visit to the island, and it’s such a special place – I understand what all the fuss is about!

Me and my co-driver, Emma Morrison, took the ferry from Heysham to Douglas on Wednesday, ready for recce on Thursday. With 15 stages there were a lot of miles to recce, and we were on the road from 7:30am until 7:30pm! While we were recceing, the team got JIG scrutineered, and we were ready to go for Friday.

We had an early start for the drivers’ briefing, before shakedown – a 2.4 mile blast which shook away the cobwebs and helped me to feel comfortable with the car and setup.

We kicked off the stages with leg 1 on Friday afternoon, with a steady run through the first four stages as I got used to driving on notes again. Friday evening saw us take on leg 2, although unfortunately stages 6 and 7 were cancelled. Driving in the dark has never been my favourite thing but my new Lazer Lamps were incredible and I really enjoyed stages 8 and 9 in the dark. At the end of day 1 we were sitting 10th in class and 111th overall.

Day two saw us tackle the same loop of stages twice, with a short service in the middle. I was pleased with the pace as we got into a better rhythm and improved the times with each loop. Such fast stages have never been my strong point but we were able to build up the pace over the weekend. We finished up 6th in class from 20 starters, and 78th overall from 150 which I was delighted with for my first visit to the island.

I’m super happy to have competed on these iconic stages - and to have got to the end with JIG intact! Another one ticked off the bucket list and I loved every second 🤩 Is it too soon to start planning for next year?!

Thanks to everyone who made it possible: Emma Morrison for doing a great job on the notes; Scott and Jamie from G&M for looking after JIG; and all my sponsors for their continued support:

Carbon Positive Motorsport Morris Lubricants BYKATHRYN Demon Tweeks

Watch this space for what’s next!