THERE was plenty of drama and good, skilful driving as the Isle of Wight’s top teams competed in the final rally of the year.

The army tank ranges on the Bovington stages in Dorset provided a real test for drivers.

Dean Long, driving his Subaru, with navigator Jon Barrett, performed well — not just beating a few cars, but moving up 12 places during the event to finish 17th overall from 74 entries.

Wayne Hole and Chris Wilson in their Mk1 Escort came a creditable 25th and eighth in class.

One of the highlights for Long and Hole was in coming up against each other at one of the many merge points, which resulted in a day-long battle, despite having different start times, other competitors and the course layout to contend with.

Not everything went to plan for Richard Weaver and navigator James Pink over the weekend.

Drivers needed to be careful of large anti-tank concrete blocks which lined the course, a danger when veering off it.

These fears became an unfortunate reality for Weaver and Pink, who sped off the track in their push for a podium position.

Weaver was forced to make a split-second decision, which resulted in a collision with a metal barrier, but in true rally style, he re-joined the stage to finish ninth and third in his class.