Breen wins Laois Rally

Kilkenny’s Ray Breen and his Waterford co-driver Andrew Purcell secured a start-to-finish victory in the Heritage Hotel Laois Rally in their Ford Focus WRC today.

At the conclusion of the eighth stage of the Portlaoise-based rally, they were 41 seconds in front of second-placed Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Subaru WRC).

The Cork pairing of Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy, also in a Subaru WRC, were third.

Breen settled quickly and courtesy of a string fast stage times, he began to edge free of the opposition.

Maguire was his nearest challenger but he had to watch third-placed McCarthy close to within six seconds.

As Breen continued to extend his lead, Maguire’s pace also saw him move free from the shackles of McCarthy.

Throughout the day, Kevin Barrett was just off the top quartet.

Noel Redmond, who collected a 45-second penalty when he arrived late to a control after his Subaru had brake problems, fought his way up the leaderboard to finish fifth.

The main retirement was that of Kildare’s Tommy Graham (Subaru WRC), who bowed out after three stages with an exhaust manifold difficulty.

Kerry’s Alan Ring (Subaru) won Group N, moving well ahead of the Mitsubishi of Adrian Quinn on the final few stages.

1. R. Breen/A. Purcell (Ford Focus WRC) 1h. 08m. 47s.

2. N. Maguire/E. Sherry (Subaru WRC) 1h. 09m. 28s.

3. L. McCarthy/K. Murphy (Subaru WRC) 1h. 09m. 52s.

4. K. Barrett/B. Goodman (Subaru WRC) 1h. 10m. 24s.

5. N. Redmond/K. Falvey (Subaru WRC) 1h.11m. 36s.

6. A. Ring/S. Moriarty (Subaru) 1h. 11m. 38s.

7. A. Quinn/A. Moran (Mitsubishi) 1h. 12m. 20s.

8. K. O'Donoghue/J. O'Leary (Mitsubishi) 1h. 12m. 34s.

9. T. Linehan/J. Kearney (Subaru) 1h. 12m. 50s.

10/ P. McCullough/H. McKenna (Mitsubishi) 1h. 13m. 41s.

Meanwhile, in Belfast, Pat Donegan won the Meteor Electrical Titanic Rally, driving a Ford Escort.

He edged out the Escort of reigning Production Cup World champion, Niall McShea by just 0.25 of a second.

The sponsor’s award was won by the legendary Billy Coleman while the “Entertainer of the Event” award went to Kieran O’Neill.

1. P. Donegan (Escort) 1m. 32.49s.

2. N. McShea (Escort) 1m. 32.74s.

3. G. Evans (Escort) 1m. 33.48s.

4. C. Donnelly (Escort) 1m. 33.85s.