Good day for Irish in Rallye Sunseeker

It was a good day for Irish drivers in the Bournemouth based Rallye Sunseeker, the opening round of the Kumho National Rally Championship.

A dramatic finish saw Roger Duckworth (Subaru) come from third to take a last gasp victory over the

Hyundai of Graham Middleton, who was just 0.6 of a second behind.

Steve Petch, also in a Hyundai WRC was third some 7.8 seconds behind.

Ireland’s, Brendan Crealey in a works backed Mitsubishi was sixth and took top points in the Production Cup.

Another Irish driver, Stephen Harron in a McKinstry-hired Subaru finished in eighth place.

On his first rally in quite some time, Rory Galligan brought his Mitsubishi home in 10th place and duly took top points in the hotly-contested Mitsubishi Evo Challenge.

Elsewhere, Ollie O’Donovan (Subaru WRC) and Roy White (Mitsubishi) were 17th and 18th respectively.

There was further god news for the Irish contingent as Gareth MacHale won the Peugeot 206 Super Cup category.

Over the last few years, Irish drivers have dominated this series with Rory Galligan, Gary Jennings and Shaun Gallagher all winning titles.

All day long MacHale had a tense battle with both Stuart Jones and Paul Jones. Midway through this afternoon stages, the young Dubliner edged ahead and kept his nerve to take the top points.

Fellow Irish driver, Rodney Wilton was ninth.

RALLYE SUNSEEKER

R. Duckworth (Subaru WRC) 1h. 13m. 25.6s.

G. Middleton (Hyundai WRC) 1h. 13m. 26.2s.

S. Petch (Hyundai WRC) 1h. 13m. 34.0s.

Peugeot 206 Super Cup:

G. MacHale 1h. 23m. 22.9s.

S. Jones 1h. 23m. 32.4s.

I. Rowlands 1h. 23m. 49.6s.