N.A. Fargher Newsagents backed Leece went into the event lying in third place behind rivals Innes Clark and John Hanson. Although he knew victory over Clark would be enough to leap frog him in the standings, he also had to hope that Hanson would finish third or lower for the title to come his way.

The talented youngster along with regular co-driver, Integrated Capabilities/Manx Gas backed Rob Fagg (Port Erin) produced joint second fastest 1400 time over the opening 3 mile tarmac stage around the Great Orme to open up an a 9 second lead over Hanson with Clark a further 2 seconds back.  

The event then took the crews into the North Wales Forests with stages in the Clocaenog and Penmachno forest complexes.   On stage 2 Leece was again fastest by only 1 second from Clark, but more importantly Hanson was some 23 seconds slower and slipped to third place.

With ever growing confidence in himself and the car Leece felt confident to push harder through stage 3, the Silverstone tyres were ideally suited to the slippery conditions and he was able to extend his lead over the next two stages before returning to service at Llandudno.   This attack paid dividends and the gap to Clark was increased by a further 19 seconds, who in turn was extending his advantage over Hanson. 

“I pushed really hard in there and despite a few moments, one where we did a 360 degree spin coming into a Hairpin Right, everything is going well” explained Andrew as he arrived at service, “The Silverstone tyres are working really well in the conditions and giving me so much confidence out there.   Somewhere though we have managed to loose the exhaust.”

At service Leece held a 31 second lead over Clark, with Hanson a further 58 seconds back.   For once it looked as if things were going the right way for Leece. If the positions remained unchanged he would be champion, but he still needed Clark to finish the event to keep Hanson in third.

As they left service the young Mark Higgins Rallying crew knew that they were in a commanding position, all they had to do was ensure they brought the car to the finish and hope that the positions behind them did not change.

Again they went fastest on Stage 5 from Clark, who knew that if was to stand a chance of winning the title he would have to hope that Leece and Hanson would slip up or have a problem.   Clark managed to post his second fastest time of the day to claw back 5 seconds on the next stage but the win appeared out of reach for him now.

All that was left now between Leece and his third win in a row was a 3.5 mile run around the Great Orme in reverse to the first stage.   With high kerbs and rock faces waiting to punish any mistake, he took to the stage with caution.   He produced a clean run and emerged from the final stage with no problems and a competitive time, knowing that the round win was his.   He could do no more now than wait to see if Clark and Hanson both finished.