Breen wins Sligo rally

With a thrilling victory in the Sligo Rally, Kilkenny driver Ray Breen (Ford Focus WRC) has boosted his chances of landing the Dunlop National Rally championship.

Breen had a tremendous tussle with English driver Jim Harrison over the stages in Sligo, round six of the series, and although Harrison was seven seconds ahead mid-way Breen bounced back to lead by a second, with just two stages remaining.

On each of those tests, he added a second to win by three seconds.

Harrison, who claimed 18 Dunlop points, has now moved into second in the series.

Two other contenders, Charlie Donnelly and Patrick Elliott, both retired. The former blew the turbo of his Toyota Corolla, while power-steering failure in his Subaru WRC forced the latter’s retirement.

Sean Gallagher (Subaru) had his best finish of the current season, coming third.

Kevin Barrett, who experienced gearbox problems during the early part of the rally, had a new unit fitted at service and took fourth place.

The Group N category was won by Michael Curran (Mitsubishi), who led all through and also netted fifth place in general classification. Series leader Willie Fannin crashed his Subaru on the third stage.

Clare driver Anthony O’Halloran (Opel Manta) was the top two-wheel-drive performer.

1 R. Breen/A. Purcell (Ford Focus WRC) 1h. 02m. 22s.

2 J. Harrison/H. Bell (Subaru WRC) 1h. 02m. 25s.

3 S. Gallagher/E. Sherry (Subaru WRC) 1h. 04m. 40s.

4 K. Barrett/B. Goodman (Subaru WRC) 1h. 05m. 30s.

5 M. Curran/F. McShane (Mitsubishi) 1h. 05m. 46s.

6 N. Maguire/P. McLaughlin (Subaru WRC) 1h. 06m. 04s.

7 I. Barrett/E. O’Flaherty (Mitsubishi) 1h. 06m. 21s.

8 A. Ring/D. Brannigan (Subaru) 1h. 06m. 42s.

9 J. McHugh/D. Gallagher (Escort Cosworth) 1h. 06m. 59s.

10 G. Martin/D. Lennon (Subaru) 1h. 07m. 47s.

Dunlop Championship Positions (Provisional positions after Round 6):

1 R. Breen 98 points.

2 J. Harrison 74 points.

=3 C. Donnelly & K. Barrett 65 points.

=5. P. Elliott & N. Maguire 63 points.

7 K. Lynch 58 points.