The Wexford-Waterford combination of Eamonn Boland and Damien Morrissey yesterday coasted to a comfortable win in the Ordnance Survey Ireland International Rally of the Lakes based on Killarney, giving them a clear lead in the Global Group Irish Tarmac Championship.
Their NVD Subaru Impreza started the day with a lead of just ten seconds, but their two main rivals both crashed out during the nine stages, leaving the pairing from the southeast with a final winning margin of exactly three minutes.
Overnight, their nearest challengers were Gareth MacHale and Craig Parry, and the Dubliner's Focus halved Boland's lead on the opening stage, Moll's Gap, with the two contenders swapping times all through the next three stages, when the gap was down to 3.8 seconds.
However, MacHale misjudged a corner on Caragh Lake and that was the end of his rally. This promoted former Tarmac champion Derek McGarrity to a distant second place, too far behind to mount a challenge in the remaining four stages, so both drivers backed off.
Killarney driver Donie O'Sullivan, lying third overnight, was the day's first casualty when his Impreza went off the road on the opening stage, Moll's Gap, and overnight Group N Production class leader Colm Murphy was another retirement, leaving Clonakilty brothers Kevin and Martin Kelleher to win the class.
Monaghan pair Dessie Keenan and Enda Sherry were third overall in their Impreza, ahead of Dunlop National champions Aaron MacHale and Killian Duffy, but the hero of the weekend was last year's rally winner Kris Meeke, who drove a two wheel drive, 1.6 litre Renault Clio to fifth overall despite losing time with a puncture on Saturday.
Adam Carroll drove the Belmayne A1 Team Ireland car to third place in the Sprint race at Brands Hatch, the final meeting of the A1 Grand Prix series. Later, in the Feature race, Carroll again held an early third position until an incident with the eventual winner, Narain Karthikeyan of India, damaged his front wing and forced him to make an extra pit stop, leaving him down the field at the finish although the Irishman did set the fastest lap of the race. The Irish team finished sixth in the championship points table.
Dubliner Dermot Carnegie, the six times British Rallycross champion, finished second yesterday at Pembrey, in South Wales, in the third round of this year's series. He was third in Saturday's event, which was won by Limerickman Ollie O'Donovan, the defending champion.