Irish crew lead the way

The Irish crew of Daniel Barry and Martin Brady have moved into the lead of the Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship and have also consolidated the lead in the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge following their fourth place in the Brick and Steel Border Counties Rally in Scotland yesterday.

The Wicklow driver endured a few problems including a puncture on the fourth stage and a clutch problem one stage later.

In the Mitsubishi series, where he scored maximum points, Barry beat Welshman Simon Hughes by 46.5 seconds, a repeat of the opening round result, although the margin was much closer on that occasion.

Cork driver Owen Murphy, who was co-driven by Dai Roberts, was third of the Evo contenders. The former Billy Coleman Award winner lost time on the second stage with an overshoot.

His Mitsubishi also lost third gear, then on the fifth test, he had to contend with a misfire.

Another Irish driver, Alan Carmichael was one place behind Murphy.

The rally was won by Marcus Dodd (Hyundai Accent WRC), who finished some five seconds ahead of the Ford Focus WRC of Steve Perez.

Perez led by 28 seconds by the fourth test but an overshoot on S.S. 5 cost him in excess of 30 seconds and Dodd took advantage.

1. M. Dodd/A. Bargery (Hyundai Accent WRC) 57m. 33.7s.

2. S. Perez/P. Spooner (Ford Focus WRC) 57m. 39.4s.

3. P. Bird/I. Windress (Ford Focus WRC) 57m. 58.2s.

4. D. Barry/M. Brady (Mitsubishi Evo9) 59m. 09.9s.

5. S. Hughes/C. Parry (Mitsubishi Evo9) 59m. 56.4s.

6. W. Bonniwell/N. Ewing (Subaru Impreza) 1h. 00m. 16.0s.

7. A. Cookson/J. Wilkinson (Subaru WRC) 1h. 02m. 16.2s.

8. O. Murphy/D. Roberts (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9) 1h. 03m. 22.4s.

9. A. Carmichael/I. Lamont (Mitsubishi Evo) 1h. 05m. 08.4s.

10. N. Elsmore/C. Drew (Mitsubishi Evo9) 1h. 05m. 53.0s.

Provisional Championship Positions (after round 2)

1. D. Barry 41 points.

2. S. Hughes 38 points.

3. A. Cookson 33 points.

4. N. Elsmore 32 points.

5. O. Murphy 31 points.

6. A. Carmichael 29 points.

7. M. Dodd 26 points.

8. S. Devine 25 points.

9. S. Perez 23 points.

10. P. Bird 21 points.