Stewart edges close finish in Mourne Rally

In a close finish to the Modern Tyres Mourne Rally, round five of the Carryduff Forklifts Northern Ireland Rally Championship, Drew Stewart (Ford Escort) took a 12-second victory over the Mitsubishi of Andrew Stewart.

The pair were level after nine of the 13 stages. David Armstrong (Ford Escort) was seven seconds further behind in third.

On the first stage, a relatively short test, David Armstrong (Ford Escort) and Andrew Mullen (Mitsubishi) set identical times with Derek McGeehan (Mini WRC) just three seconds behind, the latter co-driven by Monaghan’s Damien Connolly was on his first competitive outing on tarmac in several years and was using the rally as a test for next month’s Down Rally.