Motorsport: Nesbitt/ O'Brien win circuit of Ireland rally

The Buy & Sell Circuit of Ireland Rally was won by Andrew Nesbitt and co-driver, James O’Brien. Their Cuisine de France Subaru WRC never skipped a beat on today’s eight stages. The vibration that dogged their progress yesterday, was traced to a faulty prop shaft and with fellow competitor, Daniel Doherty, out of the rally mid way yesterday, he sportingly lent it to Nesbitt.

Nesbitt set several fastest times today to finish with a winning margin of two minutes and 43 seconds as the focus switched to the chase for second. It looked over when Eamonn Boland had a brush with the Tyrone scenery and he trailed Derek McGarrity by 31 seconds.

However, McGarrity backed off and a rapidly charging Boland cut the deficit to 14 seconds entering the final stage. McGarrity lost time when he encountered Andrew Nesbitt’s stalled Subaru at a hairpin but he managed to keep Boland at bay albeit by five seconds.

Austin McHale (Toyota Corolla) was fourth with Niall Maguire (Subaru) and David Greer (Toyota Corolla) completing the top six.

The Group N award went to Trevor Cathers, his Mitsubishi a comfortable two minutes and 33 seconds ahead of the similar car of Brendan Kelly, who went off the road on one of today’s stages. Dickie Curran, also in a Mitsubishi, was ninth and Davy Armstrong (Escort Cosworth) was tenth.

1. A. Nesbitt/J. O'Brien (Subaru WRC) 2H. 41M. 08S;

2. D. McGarrity/C. Patterson (Subaru WRC) 3H. 01M.

10S;

3. E. Boland/A. Nestor (Subaru WRC) 3H. 01M. 15S;

4. A. McHale/B. Murphy (Toyota Corolla) 3H. 04M. 15S;

5. N. Maguire/P. McLaughlin (Subaru WRC) 3H. 04M. 39S;

6. D. Greer/M. Reid (Toyota Corolla WRC) 3H. 05M.

40S;

7. T. Cathers/G. Noble (Mitsubishi) 3H. 07M. 22S;

8. B. Kelly/R. Kennedy (Mitsubishi) 3H. 10M. 05S;

9. D. Curran/G. Lyons (Mitsubishi) 3H. 11M. 02;

10. D. Armstrong/H. Blackburn (Escort Cosworth) 3H.

12M. 35S.

The second round of the British Formula 3 Championship at Brands Hatch was won by Bruce Jouanny. James Courtney and Robbie Kerr were second and third. Michael Keohane crashed out on the second lap. Adam Carroll won the Scholarship race from fellow Irish driver, Gavin Smith.