England edges McFall in thrilling MIJRS battle at Birr
Oran England and Darragh Mullen grabbed a 19.7-second Class 2 victory at round two of the Motorsport Ireland Junior Rally Series (MIJRS) after Ben McFall's penultimate stage puncture ended a nail-biting battle. The Peugeot 208 Rally4 crew secured top MIJRS points as well as maximum Stellantis Rally Cup points after a strong performance on the Birr Stages Rally.
Jack Byrne and Dylan Harrington set the early Class 2 pace in wet conditions, going 4.8 seconds faster than England on Birr's opening Ballymackey test. Byrne’s early advantage evaporated on the next stage, though, when he picked up a puncture, losing three and a half minutes stopping to change the wheel. Jack Harris was another to suffer rally-defining time loss with a stage two puncture.
A brace of stage wins for Ben McFall and Mark McGeehan put them into a two-second lead over England going into Birr's opening service halt. The class battle was too tight to call with Robert Cronin's Opel Corsa Rally4 in the mix, less than ten seconds shy of the lead.
England moved back into the lead on stage four before another McFall brace of fastest times put him back in front by 1.3 seconds with three stages to go. The lead had changed hands multiple times as the two Rally4 aces traded stage wins. Meanwhile, an increasingly competitive Ross Ryan and James Deane were now challenging Cronin for third, just 0.3 seconds behind the Opel pilot.
England continued his strong performance on Birr’s Ballymackey stage to move into a four-second lead before disaster struck McFall on Birr's penultimate Forty Acres test when a puncture stopped his hopes of displacing England at the top. The Ford Fiesta Rally4 pilot lost over 20 seconds, handing England a healthy cushion.
That gave England breathing space to cruise home to victory over McFall, who put his penultimate stage disappointment behind him to secure second with his fifth fastest time of the day.
Ryan continued to impress in third, finishing 5.4 seconds ahead of Cronin. Danny Brady rounded out the top five after a solid day's work.
Birr Stages Rally MIJRS Class 2 top five:
1 England/Mullen (Peugeot 208 Rally4)
2 McFall/McGeehan (Ford Fiesta Rally4) +19.7
3 Ryan/Deane (Fiesta) +38.1
4 Cronin/Heffernan (Opel Corsa Rally4) +43.5
5 Brady/Callaghan (Fiesta) +2:23.3
MIJRS Class 2 standings after round 2/8:
1 McFall - 39
2 England - 36
3 Byrne - 29
= Cronin - 29
= Ryan - 29
Travers secures Class 2A win with dominant drive
David Travers and Brian Martyn dominated Class 2A, finishing over a minute clear after setting five fastest times out of a possible eight in their Ford Fiesta R2T.
It was James McShea and Grace O'Brien who started fastest though. On his closed-road rallying debut, McShea went fastest on the opening stage by an incredible 18.1 seconds. Unfortunately, the reigning J1000 champion retired on the next stage.
A fastest time on stage three put Travers into the lead by 1.1 seconds over Tommy Furlong and Patrick O'Sullivan. The battle looked set to intensify, but three more stage wins in Birr's middle loop extended Travers' lead to 51.7 seconds as Furlong dropped over four minutes on stage five.
The 11.8-kilometre Forty Acres test proved costly for several crews. Anthony Dineen and Ciara Duggan were another to fall adrift, dropping out of fourth place on the demanding stage.
Ryan Caldwell, who had Ben Thompson co-driving with him for the first time, inherited second position after Furlong's troubles. The Peugeot 208 R2 crew showed promise as they built up their pace, finishing stage six just 0.1 seconds shy of Travers' benchmark.
Two fastest times on the final loop helped Furlong climb back into third on the very last stage, nipping ahead of Gemma Hallinan and Liam Egan's similar Ford Fiesta R2T in a last-gasp battle for the final podium position.
It was Travers’ day in Birr, though, taking a stunning victory on his asphalt debut and first event making his own pacenotes.
Birr Stages Rally MIJRS Class 2A top four:
1 Travers/Martyn (Ford Fiesta R2T)
2 Caldwell/Thompson (Peugeot 208 R2) +1:05.1
3 Furlong/O'Sullivan (Fiesta) +4:08.7
4 Hallinan/Egan (Fiesta) +4:42.6
MIJRS Class 2A standings after round 2/8:
1 Travers - 37
2 Caldwell - 36
3 Hallinan - 29
4 Furlong - 28
5 McShea - 22
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Round 4 of the J1000 MIJRS took place on the Sunday of the Limerick Motor Club 2 day Hillclimb event held in Ballyorgan Co Limerick, the sun shone on the nine registered J1000 drivers who competed on the second tarmac round of the dual surface championships.
It was Gareth McGettrick in a Skoda Citigo who took his first #MIJRS win after a close days racing, the Connacht Motor Club young driver who had his father in the navigators seat left it to the last of the 4 runs to set his fastest time finishing the event just 1 second ahead of second placed #MIJRS registered James Kelly in a VW Up. Third was Jack McDermott also in a Skoda Citigo. Holly Dunnion who won the J1000 class on the event on Saturday, finished 4th on Sunday’s #MIJRS round driving a Peugeot 107. Next up was James Travers also in a Peugeot 107. Finn Gardiner from Clare Motorclub in his Skoda Citigo was next to finish and continues to lead the J1000 MIJRS Championships overall after his haul of 6th place points. Conor Fogarty in his VW Up was 7th just ahead of T.J Dunne in his Toyota Aygo and Katelyn Furlong in her Peugeot 107.
Next up for the J1000 class is a switch back to gravel for Round 5 of the Championships the Moonraker Forest Rally on April 18th.
Future events:
Next up for J1000, Class 2, and Class 2A categories of the MIJRS is the Moonraker Forestry Rally on 18 April.