MacHale wins Cork "20" International Rally

Event victory in the Cork "20" International Rally for Gareth MacHale (Ford Focus) and a record equalling fifth Irish Tarmac Championship success were delivered in tandem today.

Dubliner, MacHale and co-driver, Brian Murphy set fastest times on all six stages of the second leg to secure a fine victory.

But they were powerless to prevent Derry ace, Donnelly, who was co-driven by Paddy Toner, enter the record books and join Austin MacHale as a five time winner of the Irish Tarmac Championship.

MacHale was fastest on all the event's 15 stages as he gave a commanding performance.

Donnelly remained in his shadow, knowing that second place was ample guarantee to deliver the Irish Tarmac Championship.

At the finish, the margin between them was one minute and 9.4 seconds.

Cork driver, Denis Cronin in a Subaru was over four minutes adrift in third.

Another Cork driver, Daragh O'Riordan (Renault Clio) experienced some suspension woes en-route to winning the two-wheel drive category.

His fellow countyman, Owen Murphy (Mitsubishi) won Group N but was stymied by a litany of niggling issues.

Elsewhere, Alastair Fisher recovered from turbo problems and a broken oil pump pipe to claim tenth overall. However, he fell short by a mere half a point to clinch the Group N title of the Irish Tarmac series with Jer O'Donovan claiming the spoils.

1. G. MacHale/B. Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) 1h. 59m. 29.4s.

2. E. Donnelly/P. Toner (Skoda Fabia WRC) 2h. 00m. 34.8s.

3. D. Cronin/C. Hurley (Subaru WRC) 2h. 04m. 41.3s.

4. D. O'Riordan/T. McDaid (Renault Clio S1600) 2h. 08m. 58.3s.

5. O. Murphy/J. O'Brien (Mitsubishi Evo 9) 2h. 11m. 32.2s.

6. J. O'Donovan/S. Hayde (Subaru Impreza N12B) 2h. 11m. 58.7s.

7. J. Buttimer/D. Buttimer (Subaru Impreza) 2h. 15m. 39.8s.

8. E. Meegan/S. Kelly (Honda Civic) 2h. 15m. 41.4s.

9. J. Taylor/J. Patterson (Mitsubishi Evo) 2h. 17m. 13.5s.

10. A. Fisher/B. McNulty (Mitsubishi Evo 9) 1h. 13m. 38.9s.

NATIONAL RALLY:

1. P. Collins/D. Brannigan (Escort) 2h. 06m. 07.4s.

2. B. Meade/J. Hickey (Escort) 2h. 06m. 52.3s.

3. K. O'Donoghue/J. O'Leary (Escort) 2h. 10m. 54.1s.

HISTORIC RALLY:

1. N. Creighton/G. Roberts (Ford Cortina) 2h. 12m. 22.3s.

JUNIOR RALLY:

1. J. Cuningham/M. Cunningham (Honda Civic) 56m. 09s.

2. D. Guest/R. Guest (Honda Civic) 56m. 16s.

3. R. O'Sullivan/D. O'Brien (Vauxhall Nova) 58m. 43.9s.