McGarrity excluded from AnswerCall Ulster Rally.

Top seed in today’s AnswerCall Ulster Rally, Derek McGarrity and his co-driver, Dermot O’Gorman have been excluded from the event. Late last night, the Stewards of the Meeting, excluded them form the rally for a breach of the regulations covering the event.

The Stewards were satisfied that an offence had been committed insofar as McGarrity/O’Gorman contravened event regulation, 10.3.1 by driving over part of a Special Stage before the start of the competition.

McGarrity/O’Gorman have exercised their right to appeal under the International Sporting Code.

It now appears that they will drive under appeal but will not feature in any official classification, results, prize giving and podium ceremonies.

The AnswerCall Ulster Rally is a counting round of both the Irish and British Pirelli Championships.

McGarrity leads the Irish series by 12 points but with dropped scores taken into consideration, the margin is down to four points with Eugene Donnelly his closest rival.

The rally starts from Armagh this afternoon, today’s first leg will feature eight special stages all within close proximity to Armagh.