DURSLEY'S David Stokes signed off a fantastic historic season with outright victory on the McRae Historic Stages, the last ever Historic Rally Car Register (HRCR) Bristol Historic Rally Championship (BHRC) round.

Together with co-driver Guy Weaver, the newly crowned BHRC champion won by a 42-second margin.

The Aberfeldy-based event was also a round of the Scottish Rally Championship with six tests totalling some 44 competitive miles in some of Scotland's classic forestry stages of Craigvinean, Errochty and the difficult Drummond Hill.

Heavy rain on Thursday and Friday left the stages extremely slippery.

Stokes started as he meant to go on with the fastest time on the opening test and then a string of fastest times.

His only drama was a big one in Drummond Hill test,temporarily jamming a log under a front wheel, but from then on he cruised to victory.

"In some ways it's a sad day, as it's the last HRCR championship round," said Weaver.

"In its heyday it regularly brought 70 to 80 entries to some cracking rallies and it was a nice way to end the era with a victory, but times change and we now look forward to the RAC series next year. It will also be my tenth year with David."

The final event for the duo this year will be Wales Rally GB, which is already bursting to capacity such is the popularity of the three-day event.