Breen wins Willie Loughman forest rally

Former national rally champion, Ray Breen, co-driven by his son, Craig, in their Ford Focus WRC, won the Carrick-on-Suir based Willie Loughman forest rally, the second round of the Hankook Tyres National Forest Championship.

In a well-contested event, they finished three seconds in front of the Subaru WRC of Andrew Purcell/Mick Courtney with Colin Britton/Arthur Kierans (Mitsubishi) taking third place – one minute and 23 seconds further behind.

The first stage near Ahenny began before dawn with Purcell taking a three second lead over Breen; Britton was another two seconds behind.

Breen moved into the lead after the second stage and at the first service near Fiddown, he led Purcell by eleven seconds.

Breen added two seconds on the fourth stage but Purcell trimmed the deficit to eight seconds by the completion of Stage 6 where he overshot a junction and lost valuable seconds.

Breen reigned supreme on stages seven and eight and then slackened his pace on the final test to take victory. However, he admitted it was a close call as he back off too much and was almost caught by Purcell.

Colin Briton, who diced with James Murphy (Ford Focus) for third, was able to ease off on the closing stages when Murphy bowed out with engine trouble.

Other retirements included Denis Cronin (Subaru WRC), Kevin O’Kane (Subaru WRC), Brian Lawlor (Mitsubishi) and Emma McKinstry (Subaru).

John Reid (Toyota Corolla WRC) finished fourth with Sean Heaney (Mitsubishi) fifth.

The top competitor in the two wheel drive category was James Coleman, despite the fact that he clouted his Ford Escort against a chicane bale and also fuel pump problems.

Breen and Purcell now share the lead in the national forest series.

Donegal’s, Shaun Gallagher and his Waterford co-driver, Micky Joe Morrissey, in their Citroen C2, finished 20th overall in Rally Mexico, the third round of the World Rally Championship.

They were sixth in the Junior WRC category.

1. R. Breen/C. Breen (Ford Focus WRC) 41m. 28s.

2. A. Purcell/M. Courtney (Subaru WRC) 41m. 31s.

3. C. Britton/A. Kierans (Mitsubishi) 42m. 54s.

4. J. Reid/E. Shields (Toyota Corolla WRC) 44m. 58s.

5. S. Heaney/L. McLaughlin (Mitsubishi) 45m. 30s.

6. J. Coleman/M. Haley (Ford escort) 46m. 43s.

7. J. Reddington/S. Quin (Mitsubishi) 47m. 16s.

8. M. Brady/C. Brady (Ford Escort) 47m. 56s.

9. C. Delaney/R. Grace (Subaru) 48m. 00s.

10. A. Commins/D. Coady (Ford Escort) 48m. 26s.