Allen wins in Cork as McHale eyes Championship

Extending his overnight advantage, Glen Allen and co-driver Damien Connolly, in their Toyota Corolla WRC, won the Cork Forest Rally today.

The Northern Ireland driver maintained a steady pace through today’s second leg of eight stages and finished a minute and 13.4 seconds ahead of Derek Tracey/Dave Williams (Subaru WRC).

Today’s stages in what is round six of the McCauley Trailers National Forest Championship were dominated by Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle.

They powered their Toyota Corolla WRC from outside the top ten to claim a superb third overall. Second-placed Tracey not eligible for championship points, so MacHale claimed 18 points and is now set to clinch the series on the next round.

Behind the top three, John McGlaughlin (Mitsubishi) won the Group N showroom category and in the battle for two-wheel drive honours, Brian Lawlor (Escort) emerged victorious.

Dominic McNeill failed to start today’s stages and Pete Willoughby retired during the day.

1. G. Allen/D. Connolly (Toyota Corolla WRC) 1h. 29m. 33.6s.

2. D. Tracey/D. Williams (Subaru WRC) 1h. 30m. 47.0s.

3. G. MacHale/P. Nagle (Toyota Corolla WRC) 1h. 31m. 39.4s.

4. J. McGlaughlin/D. McElroy (Mitsubishi) 1h. 32m. 13.4s.

5. K. O'Kane/M. Hanna (Subaru WRC) 1h. 33m. 14.9s.

6. T. Harding/A. Deasy (Subaru WRC) 1h. 34m. 38.1s.

Championship Positions:

1. G. MacHale 118 Points.

2. G. MacHale 91 Points.

3. J. McCarthy 83 Points.

4. K. O'Kane 77 Points.

5. B. Lawlor 65 Points.

Irish driver Colin Turkington notched up his second win in this season’s British Touring Car Championship races at Mondello Park today.

His VX racing team mate, Yvan Muller netted two wins to move to within 13 points of championship leader, Matt Neal (Honda).

Donegal's, Damien Faulkner won both races in the Porsche Carrera GB Cup.