Patrick O'Brien wins home Rally in Omagh for fourth season in a row
Patrick O'Brien (Skoda Fabia R5) won the McKelvey Asbestos Bushwhacker Rally for the fourth season in a row. Picture courtesy of William Neill.
In yet another fascinating and absorbing encounter Omagh’s Patrick O’Brien took his R317 Motorsport run Skoda Fabia R5 to his fourth successive victory in the Omagh based McKelvey Asbestos Bushwhacker Rally.
Yet again, fellow local Cathan McCourt (Ford Fiesta Rally2) was his principal rival and just like previous years, the battle went down to the wire.
On the final stage O’Brien, who returns to Perth this week, overturned a 1.4s deficit to win by a mere 0.7s, the smallest margin of his four year reign of supremacy. Ballygawley’s Vivian Hammill (VW Polo GTi R5) was 36.8s further behind in third.
Elsewhere, the Monaghan/Inchigeelagh duo of Derek Mackarel/Eamonn Creedon (Ford Fiesta R5) claimed maximum points in both the Sligo Pallets Irish Forest Rally Championship and the McGrady Insurance NI Forest Rally Challenge.
It was enough for Mackarel to clinch his first ever Irish Forest national title (Creedon still has to compete in the final round to secure the co-driver’s award) while both have won the NI Forest series.
A confident McCourt made the best start and led fellow Omagh driver Niall McCullagh (VW Polo Gi) by 2.2s, the latter on his first event in almost a year.
Hamill, who admitted to outbreaking himself on a few spots was third -2.3s further behind followed by O’Brien, who was 5.2s off top spot as he reckoned the surface was very loose.
McCourt lost the handbrake on the second stage where O’Brien, despite going straight on at a square left, set a scintillating time to move into second just 0.7s behind McCourt. McCullagh dropped to fourth and slid off and out of the rally on SS3.
O’Brien arrived at the Omagh service with a 3.5s lead as second placed McCourt sorted the handbrake. In a titanic struggle for supremacy, McCourt was best on SS4 and SS5 and edged 1.4s ahead of O’Brien, who secured the win with the best time on a dramatic final stage.
Hamill was best of the rest in third. Meanwhile, Mackarel lost power steering halfway through the opening stage and ended the first leg of three stages down in twelfth. A new steering rack was fitted at the service halt and he went on to claim a championship double. His father Andy won the Irish Forest series in the early 1990’s.
Fivemiletown’s Shane McGirr (Lada Riva) overcame clutch problems to win the modified rear wheel drive category, he also clinched the Irish National title as his rivals Mickey Conlon and Hugh McQuaid retired their Ford Escorts.
Dubliner Alex Denning and his British team mate Thomas Emson recorded their best results of the GT4 European Series when they netted a pair of top five finishes in the penultimate round of the series in Monza.
Benefitting from some new upgrades in their Elite Motorsport with Entire Race Engineering run McLaren Artura, Denning, the former Irish Young Racing Driver of the Year winner impressed in qualifying and secured P3 on a grid of 48 competitors.
On Saturday’s opening race they were fourth. In yesterday’s race Denning completed his 30 minute stint in third place but a delay in switching drivers saw the team lose several places before they finished fifth.
Meanwhile, Former World Rally champion Petter Solberg is set to compete in the Clare Forest Rally (October 5) where he will steer a land Rover Defender (converted into rally specification) as part of the Bowler Defender Series.
The Irish Examiner understands that the first nomination for this year’s Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year award is imminent and could be announced within the next 48 hours.
Cork duo Derek Ryan/James O’Brien (Ford Escort) are competing in the Rally de Portugal Histórico that begins today and continues until Saturday.
1. P. O'Brien/S. O'Brien (Skoda Fabia R5) 36m. 02.2s
2. C. McCourt/B. Hoy (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+0.7s
3. V. Hamill/A. Grennan (VW Polo GTi R5)+37.5s
4. R. Caldwell/S. Ferris (Skoda Fabia R5)+45.8s
5. K. White/A. Nestor (Hyundai i20 R5)+1m. 56.1s
6. M. Cairns/P. Ward (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+1m. 57.5s; 6. D. Mackarel/E. Creedon (Ford Fiesta R5)+2m. 35.3s
7. J. McCarville/C. McNulty (VW Polo GTi R5)+2m. 54.0
8. D. Condell/M. Coady (Ford Fiesta R5)+3m. 08.8s
10. A. Wray/K. Bustard (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+3. 10.6s.
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