Lynch wins Moonraker rally

Always having more pace than his rivals, Derryman Kevin Lynch parented by Francis O’Regan (Subaru WRC) won the Midleton-based Moonraker Rally, round four of the McCauley Trailers Irish Forest Rally Championship.

They were never headed over the eight special stages in counties Cork and Waterford and finished with a victory margin of 48 seconds margin over the Subaru 555 of Pat Norris/Declan Tumulty.

With Lynch dominant in his S9 Subaru, most of the focus was on the race for second.

John Shanahan in a Group N Subaru led initially but towards the final few stages, Norris upped his pace and secured the runner-up position.

Third place – an a tie-break - went to Kevin O’Kane (Subaru WRC) with a gallant Stephen Moore winning the showroom category by a second from Shanahan a mere one second covering third, fourth and fifth places.

The rear wheel driver class was won by Tommy Kiely (Escort), he was well clear of the Escort of Ollie Williams.

1. K. Lynch/F. Regan (Subaru WRC) 44m. 23s.

2. P. Norris/D. Tumulty (Subaru 555) 45m. 11s.

3. K. O’Kane/M. Hanna (Subaru WRC) 45m. 21s.

4. S. Moore/T. McHugh (Subaru) 45m. 21s.

5. J. Shanahan/L. McLaughlin (Subaru) 45m. 22s.

6. T. Kiely/M. Cuddihy (Ford Escort) 46m. 00s.

7. J. Cribben/B. Kelly (Mitsubishi) 47m. 08s.

8. P. Elliott/S. Moriarty (Mitsubishi) 47m. 26s.

9. A. Mackarel/R. Cassidy (Opel Ascona) 48m. 27s.

10. O. Williams/M. Sigerson (Ford Escort) 48m. 38s.

Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) took second place in the International Rally of Wales, the second round of the Pirelli British Rally Championship.

Overnight leader, David Higgins dropped to third with two punctures and Jonny Milner was best placed to take victory – over a minute ahead of MacHale.

Northern Ireland’s Kris Meeke/Chris Patterson ((Corsa) were seventh and winners of the Super 1600 class. Aaron MacHale/Gerry McMonagle (Mitsubishi) were second in Group N.

1. J. Milner/N. Beech (Impreza WRC) 1h. 45m. 18.5s.

2. A. MacHale/B. Murphy (Focus WRC)1h. 46m. 22.7s.

3. D. Higgins/C. Thorley (Accent WRC) 1h.46m. 45.0s.

4. P. Bird/A. Bargery (Focus WRC) 1h.47m. 45.2s.

5. M. Wilson/S. Martin (Focus WRC) 1h. 48m. 37.6s.

6. S. Perez/D. Barritt (Focus WRC) 1h. 49m. 37.2s.

7. K. Meeke/C. Patterson (Corsa)1h. 49m. 46.6s.

8. J. Reynolds/R. James (Impreza WRC) 1h. 50m.09.2s.

9. B. Johnson/S. Merry (Impreza WRC) 1h.50m. 09.5s.

10. G. Wilks/P. Pugh (Suzuki Ignis) 1h. 50m. 36.4s

Irish co-driver, Rory Kennedy from Letterkenny partnered Alister Ginley (Subaru) to ninth place in the Cyprus Rally that was won by Marcus Gronholm (Peugeot 307).

Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) and Ford’s Markko Martin were second and third respectively.