MacHale closes on BRC title rival

Five times Irish Tarmac Rally Champion, Austin MacHale and British driver, David Higgins are locked in a frenetic battle to win the British Rally Championship on the Tempest Rally that concludes this afternoon.

MacHale found himself some 13 seconds down on his rival over the early stages of this second leg, but has since eked out valuable seconds to whittle the deficit to just 5.8 seconds with five stages remaining.

The Dubliner is giving a very controlled performance on surfaces that are very slippery.

MacHale is in his usual Sanyo/Maxol backed Ford Focus is and is being co-driven by Brian Murphy while Higgins and co-driver, Daniel Barritt are on board a Hyundai Accent WRC.

The rally is being led by Mark Higgins, brother of BRC contender, David, Mark (Ford Focus) is over a minute clear of the BRC title-chasing duo.

In terms of the Pirelli British Championship, David Higgins has to finish ahead of MacHale and also in the top four of the registered competitors to land the title.

Meanwhile, in Northern Ireland, Kevin Lynch (Subaru WRC) is the early leader of the Toshiba Rally, the final round of the Northern Ireland Rally Championship.

Lynch leads Derek McGarrity by a second with last year’s winner, Robbie McGurk (Mitsubishi) and Glen Allen a further seven seconds in arrears in joint third.