Finns occupy top two as McHale maintains fourth place

Finnish driver, Tapio Laukkanen and Jari-Matti Latvala occupy the top two places in the Trackrod Rally in the Yorkshire forests as Ireland’s, Austin MacHale and co-driver, Brain Murphy maintain fourth place.

Finnish drivers Tapio Laukkanen and Jari-Matti Latvala occupy the top two places in the Trackrod Rally in the Yorkshire forests, as Ireland’s Austin MacHale and co-driver Brian Murphy maintain fourth place.

Laukkanen in a Subaru WRC has a 16.5 second lead over his fellow countryman Latvala (Ford Focus).

British Championship leader Jonny Milner, in a Toyota Corolla WRC, is third – 14.7 seconds in arrears.

MacHale is some one minute and 20 seconds off top spot but holds a 31 second buffer over the Hyundai WRC of Steve Petch, who is fifth.

Welsh driver Gwyndaf Evans still leads the Super 1600 category but he is being pressurised by the Opel Corsa of Ireland’s Kris Meeke, who is just 5.9 seconds in arrears, even though his Corsa clipped a rock on the fourth stage.

Garry Jennings is fourth in the category having damaged the rear bumper of his Peugeot.

In the Group N showroom category, Tipperary’s Roy White (Mitsubishi) is third.

In the Peugeot 206 Super Cup, Irish driver Shaun Gallagher has a 4.2 second lead over Stuart Jones. Gareth MacHale has moved up to sixth.

1. Tapio Laukkanen (Subaru WRC) 43m. 40.7s.

2. Jari-Matti Latvala (Focus WRC) 43m. 57.2s.

3. Jonny Milner (Toyota Corolla WRC) 44m. 11.9s.

4. Austin MacHale (Subaru WRC) 45m. 0.8s.

5. Steve Petch (Hyundai Accent WRC) 45m. 39.8s.

6. Barry Johnson (Subaru WRC) 46m. 09.6s.

In Brands Hatch, Cork driver Michael Keohane qualified on the sixth row of the grid for tomorrow’s

final race in the British Formula 3 Championship. As in this morning’s qualifying session for tomorrow’s first race, Nelson Piquet Junior claimed pole position.

Cork driver, Matt Griffin and his team mate, Patrick Pearse (Porsche) qualified as the fastest GT Cup car in the British GT Championship also at Brands Hatch.