Higgins wins Manx Rally comfortably

Manx born Mark Higgins and co-driver Craig Thorley have won the Manx International Rally by a comfortable margin of four minutes and 43.8 seconds.

Sat, 03 Aug, 2002 - 18:00

Manx born Mark Higgins and co-driver Craig Thorley have won the Manx International Rally by a comfortable margin of four minutes and 43.8 seconds.

Irish duo, Andrew Nesbitt/James O’Brien, in their Cuisine de France Subaru Ireland WRC, were second with Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Toyota Corolla WRC) third after gearbox problems saw them drop off the pace of the winners.

The Group N category and fourth overall went to David Higgins (Subaru).

Wexford’s Eamonn Boland (Subaru WRC) was fifth ahead of Justin Dale (Peugeot) and Alister Ginley (Mitsubishi).

Trevor Cathers (Mitsubishi) was eighth.

Nesbitt secured the top points in the Toshiba Computers Irish Tarmac Championship from Eamonn Boland (Subaru WRC).

Trevor Cathers took top points in the Group N category of the Irish series.

Milner struggled for most of today’s stages, nevertheless, his third place allows him retain his

lead in the Pirelli British Rally Championship, he is 11 points ahead of Justin Dale, who was sixth in

the Manx.

Seamus Leonard (Subaru) was 14th overall and the other Irish finishers inside the top 20 on the Isle of Man were Roy White (Mitsubishi) 16th; Damien Keenan (Peugeot) 17th and Eugene Meegan (Peugeot) 18th.

1. M. Higgins/C. Thorley (Corolla WRC) 2h. 53m. 07.6s.

2. A. Nesbitt/J. O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 2h. 57m. 51.4s.

3. J. Milner/N. Beech (Corolla WRC) 2h. 59m. 17.6s;

4. D. Higgins/D. Barritt (Impreza N) 3h. 01m. 52.3s. Gp. N

5. E. Boland/F. Regan (Impreza WRC) 3h. 03m. 55.1s.

6. J. Dale/A. Bargery (Peugeot) 3h. 07m. 31.8s. Super 1600

7. A. Ginley/R. Kennedy (Lancer N) 3h. 08m. 21.4s. Gp. N

8. T. Cathers/D.Wilson (Lancer N) 3h. 08m. 59.6s. Gp. N

9. R. Watson/S. Crellin (Mitsubishi) 3h. 10m. 28.6s.

10. S. Petch/J. Richardson (Subaru) 3h. 11m. 56.1s.

Toshiba Computers Irish Tarmac C'ship:

1. A. Nesbitt 60 points