Charlie Eastwood takes win at Le Mans

Former Motorsport Ireland Young Racing Driver of the Year Charlie Eastwood, from Belfast, along with his TF Sport Aston Martin teammates Jonathan Adam (Scotland) and Salih Yoluc (Turkey) took a commanding victory in the LM GTE category of the Le Mans 24 Hours race. 

Eastwood and Adam showed blistering pace in the Vantage AMR car in their stints before Eastwood took the chequered flag in what was his third appearance in the iconic race. 

Cork’s Matt Griffin and his teammates Aaron Scot and Duncan Cameron were forced out after the latter was tagged and spun out by one of the prototype cars at turn 1, his Ferrari punctured both left-side tyres and was badly damaged during the return to the pits.

Meanwhile, the Cork motorcycle outfit Team #109 and their Derry rider Eunan McGlinchey are still awaiting a breakthrough in the Supersport 300 FIM World Championship. 

At the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain in what was their fourth outing of the campaign, McGlinchey, having qualified on pole, was lying fifth in the last chance qualifier race with the top six riders securing the final places for the race itself. However, he crashed on the penultimate lap and finished well down the order. 

Team #109 will now concentrate on the next round of the series in Magny Cours in two weeks.

In rallying, Welsh driver Elfyn Evans (Toyota Yaris WRC) took a dramatic victory in Rally Turkey, round five of the World Rally Championship to reclaim the lead in the WRC with just two rounds remaining. Evans moved into the lead yesterday when overnight leader Thierry Neuville saw his 33-second advantage blown away when he had to stop and change a punctured wheel. 

Sebastien Ogier (Toyota Yaris WRC) retired from third spot with a technical issue on the penultimate stage. By that time Neuville was already in second before going on to win the Power Stage. Evans won by 35.2 seconds from Neuville, whose teammate Sebastien Loeb was third.