Clive Wheeler claimed his first win of the season in round three of the Castrol Polo Challenge at the Scottish Rally last weekend.

In clinching a long overdue win, the West Sussex driver became the third different winner of the season in Britain's most exciting one-make rally series.

The championship also found a new overall leader, Sophie Robinson, whose second place in Scotland propelled her to the top of the points table.

It is the first time a woman has led the championship and Robinson is the third different leader in as many rounds.

Both Wheeler and Robinson were overjoyed by their respective results. For the Sussex man, it puts his title challenge back on track after a relatively poor start to his season.

Wheeler, from Albourne, said: "It was about time! After finishing third on the opening round and failing to score last time, we were due a win."

While Wheeler and Robinson may have enjoyed trouble-free outings, plenty of their rivals had problems.

The first stage, the gruesome 12-mile Loch Grannoch test, claimed two victims - erstwhile championship leader Ian Chadwick, who ran out of road and damaged his Polo's steering and suspension, and Doni Keating Jr, whose first visit to the event ended with a light roll.

First-round victor Roger Andersson was the fastest on stage one, crossing the line nine seconds ahead of Wheeler and his co-driver, Ken Bartram from Hurstpierpoint, in their Rycliff-backed car.

Andersson's lead was shortlived as he collected no fewer than three punctures before completing the second stage.

The demise of Chadwick and Andersson left Wheeler and Bartram holding a comfortable two-minute lead but Wheeler had no intentions of cruising to the finish. Instead he collected fastest class time on stages four, five and six as he romped to a second successive Scottish Rally Polo win.

Wheeler moves into third place overall in the championship as a result, 14 points adrift of Robinson.

Wheeler said: "On the opening 12 mile stage we recorded a time of 12min.36sec, nine seconds slower than Roger Anderson, but knowing the Scottish forests and the risk of getting punctures on the large rocks, we were being cautious.

"Our caution paid off early with several drivers collecting punctures and by the end of the second stage we had opened up a 1min.20sec lead.

"The third stage was as rough as the previous two and we continued to be cautious and set second quickest time by just one second. We starting pushing hard on the fourth stage and set fastest time on the fourth, fifth and sixth stages winning for the first time this season by a comfortable margin of 3min.40sec."

The Castrol Polo Challenge will be back in Scotland again next month for the fourth round, the Edinburgh-based Jim Clark Memorial Rally.