SELBY'S Alistair Ginley had the drive of his life to finish 14th in the Network Q Rally of Great Britain.

He and his Isle of man co-driver Andrew Bargery guided their Mitsubishi Lancer to third place in their class.

The 23-year-old Ginley said: "It was a great event for us and I'm delighted to have finished.

"I've had a great duel with former double world champion Stig Blomqvist for much of the event and to ultimately beat him by almost 10 seconds is really pleasing."

Ginley was the pick of the North Yorkshire drivers with Northallerton's Peter Stephenson finishing 25th overall despite some problems with his Subaru Imprenza which began cutting out and stalled.

Ripn's Charlie Payne, a Network Q regular, was five places behind Stephenson on his Mitsubishi Lancer.

Payne said: "We survived a couple of fires when the engine and rear axle became too hot, two punctures while or front wheel also sheared off so it was a pretty exciting event."

Steve Petch, from Scorton, near Northallerton, retired his Hyundai Accent WRC with a mechanical problem when in 47th place.

The four-day 1,000 mile event, based in Wales, was won by Marcus Gronholm but Richard Burns' third place was enough to give him the drivers' championship.

Updated: 11:36 Monday, November 26, 2001