McGarrity leads clean sweep for Subaru
It was a richly deserved win for McGarrity, from Glengormley, undoubtedly one of the fastest drivers in the country, piloting the Pirelli/Matcon-liveried Subaru World Rally Car driven by Tommi Makinen in last year’s Network Q Rally.
Nesbitt, in a P2000 McKinstry Subaru WRC, made a valiant effort but a power steering difficulty ended his bid. Austin MacHale and Brian Murphy, in another Subaru WRC, were third while Tipperary’s Roy White and Greg Shinnors in the Michelin-shod Mitsubishi won the Group N showroom category with an impressive performance in the 23-stage Enniskillen-based event that finished over an hour-and-a-half behind schedule.
McGarrity gained the psychological edge on Stage 16, a seven-and-a-half mile stage near Strabane, when he set fastest time, albeit by 1.6 seconds from Nesbitt.
Nesbitt then responded on the next stage but the margin gained was only 0.7 of a second.
Behind the top two, Austin MacHale and Eamonn Boland battled for third place with the incumbent MacHale spinning his Sanyo backed Subaru at a hairpin.
As a result, Boland was only 0.7 seconds in arrears. A light rain shower made conditions greasy as the crews headed for SS 18, Lisdoo 1, that was subsequently cancelled.
On SS 19, Fairy Water 1, Nesbitt set a blistering pace and cut 11.6 seconds off McGarrity’s advantage that stood at 35.4 seconds.
At the end of that stage, Nesbitt said: “Losing stage 18 and cutting a few miles off stage 19 didn’t do us any favours.”
The chase for third continued with MacHale and Boland separated by 1.7 seconds in favour of the former. Boland moved into third on SS 19 when MacHale damaged the steering rack when he had a heavy landing at a jump crossroads.
However, he put the hammer down and was rewarded by being some eight seconds faster than the Wexford driver on stage 20 to reduce that particular margin by 6.9 seconds.
The final turning point came on Stage 21, Ross Hill 2, when Nesbitt’s Subaru developed a power steering malady and the advantage swung very much in favour of McGarrity, who led by 57.6 seconds. The Armagh ace had to complete the final pair of stages without power steering and he finished one minute 28 seconds adrift of McGarrity.
MacHale won the battle for third but it was close, with Boland only 1.4 second behind. Maurice Gass completed the Subaru WRC top five. Like McGarrity’s drive, Roy White was also an impressive performer, his FESP Mitsubishi held off the spirited challenges of his rivals, with Billy Coleman Award winner Shaun Gallagher taking second in the category and seventh overall.
The remaining top 10 places were secured by Dickie Curran and Raymond Johnston and Glyn Jones (Subaru WRC).
The opening round of the BTCC at Mondello saw James Thompson (Vauxhall Astra) win an incident-packed first race following a downpour that led to the safety car emerging three times. The reigning BTCC champ went ahead after team-mate Yvan Muller pitted while the safety car was on track. Muller went back in front when Thompson pitted for tyres, Muller pitted again during another safety car period and Thompson went on to win from Muller, who reeled in Alan Morrison and Warren Hughes. Thompson also won the second race but only after trading the lead role with Muller a few times before gaining the advantage on the final lap, Muller was second.
In the Porsche Carrera Cup, Donegal’s Damien Faulkner took another win while in the Formula Ireland race, Mark Smith led pole sitter Alan Dwyer into the first corner for a start-to-finish victory. Dwyer fell into the clutches of Paul Dagg for about three laps but managed to fend off the challenge and as the track dried out, he increased his pace again and set fastest lap towards the end of the race.
Dagg was third with Ciaran O’Carroll a distant fourth. Emmett Queenan, who spun early in the race, beached his car at Dunlop corner.
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