WARRINGTON twin brothers Daniel and Clive Dunbabin are the joint leaders of the 1999 Skoda Trophy one-make rally championship.

They took overall victory on the two-day Vauxhall Rally of Wales, the first and second rounds of the series at the weekend.

The Warrington Sports Personality team award winners for 1998 also won the N1 production class in the Mobil 1 British Rally Championship's opening round, which finished in Wrexham on Sunday.

After taking a decisive victory on the opening day of the Vauxhall Rally of Wales, Dunbabin overcame engine immobiliser problems prior to the seventh special stage to finish seventh overall on day two, but the delay cost him 2m 30s in road penalties and this handed victory to Sutton Bonington's James Slack on leg two.

Driver Dan admitted: "We had a scare on Sunday morning when the car wouldn't start. But we soon got to the bottom of the problem and it was flat out from there.

"It's a fantastic way for us to open our account. I'm delighted. It's just a pity we couldn't have taken both wins. James showed it's going to be a very exciting season."

The Dunbabins' impressive start also included five fastest stage times out of the nine featured putting them well clear in the Maximum Attack Challenge, the table based on greatest number of stage times.

Daniel shares top spot in the driver championship with Slack while Clive is equal top with Steven Robson in the Co-driver of the year championship.

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