Cavan driver Patrick Elliott won the Galway Loughrea Plant Sales Summer Rally, his fourth victory this year, and so clinched the Dunlop National Rally Championship with two rounds still to come. His only title rival, three times champion Niall Maguire, held second place behind Elliott for four stages but crashed out on the fifth one.
Welsh visitor Melvyn Evans in another Impreza was 39 seconds behind in second place, with Group N Production class winner Alan Ring taking a remarkable third overall in his Lancer. Maurice Moffett's Starlet was best two wheel drive car in fourth place.
Despite major engine problems, Dubliner Peter Grimes won the Northern Ireland Autotest Championship for the third year in a row, and the fourth in total, at Coleraine. A loose flywheel on his Mini Special forced him to miss the final three tests, but he cannot be caught by rival Sam Bowden in next month's final round.
Former Young Racing Driver of the Year and European Alfa Champion Eoin Murray yesterday finished fourth and fifth in the Seat Leon Eurocup races at Oschersleben, in Germany, leaving the Reynolds Logistics backed Dubliner a single point behind the series leader heading into the final round at Monza in October.