McHale withdraws from rally in Sweden

AUSTIN McHALE has been forced to withdraw from this weekend’s Swedish Rally, the second round of the World Rally Championship.

The Rathcoole plant-hire magnate has a long-held desire to compete in Sweden, but he will have to wait another year to realise his dream. Joe Downey, who was drafted as a replacement co-driver for the unavailable Brian Murphy, McHale’s regular co-driver, had to withdraw for family reasons.

A late bid to rescue the situation became too complicated with flight schedules and other issues and McHale had no option only to withdraw. Peugeot’s record on the Swedish in recent years suggest they should garner the majority of the points from the second round of the WRC.

Marcus Gronholm starts as favourite with Harri Rovanpera and Richard Burns completing their drivers nominated to score points for the French manufacturer, who seek a fourth successive win in Sweden. Colin McRae is inclined to play down his chances despite his fine debut performance with Citroen in Monte Carlo. He should have the advantage over Monte winner and team-mate Sebastien Loeb. The smooth surfaces should suit the Xsara and it’s possible McRae could leave Sweden as championship leader. The Pirelli-shod Subarus of Tommi Makinen and Peter Solberg are likely to suffer considering rivals, Michelin, have won 21 of the last 23 rounds in Sweden.

Ford’s hopes rest with Markko Martin, indeed, the Estonian could be the surprise packet in the three-day event that starts this morning. Mondello Park hosts the opening round of the Motorsport Ireland Rallycross Championship on Sunday with no fewer than eight cars in the Supercar class and an overall entry in excess of seventy cars. Dermot Carnegie, a winner of both the Irish and British Rallycross Championships, heads the entry in his four wheel drive Ford Focus.

His arch-rival, Lawrence Gibson also makes the journey to the Kildare venue where Helmut Holfeld makes a return to rallycross behind the wheel of the ex-John Haffey Ford Escort. Others in the Supercar class include Dan Donoghue (Metro), Mike Manning (Ford Escort), Michael Coyne (Metro), George Tracey (Metro) and Michael Morris (Subaru Impreza). The first tarmac rally of the year on Sunday, the Templemore Arms Hotel Rally, has a full entry. Restricted to two-wheel drive, two litre cars, Nenagh’s, David Percy, in his Ford Escort spearheads the quest for victory. The top 20 contains only one car that hasn’t the Blue Oval badge. John Nolan, Liam Wall, Michael Reddy, Mervyn Wedlock and Seamus Murphy, in various Ford Escorts, are all capable of winning the single stage event.

Meanwhile, reigning champion, Eugene Donnelly will not contest the championship, instead, he has set his sights on a possible tilt at the Toshiba Computers Irish Tarmac Championship in a Stan Harper Subaru WRC.

The Co. Derry driver won the West 2002 International last November on what was his debut drive in a WRC.