Motors: Fourth national rally championship victory for Josh Moffett

FOURTH VICTORY: Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (Hyundai i20 R5) and Limerick’s Keith Moriarty clinched the Triton Showers National Rally Championship on the Letterkenny based Donegal Harvest Rally, the final round of the series. Moffett is the first driver to win the series four times. Picture: Martin Walsh.

Four was certainly the magic number in the Donegal Harvest Rally the final and deciding round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship as Monaghan’s Josh Moffett (Hyundai i20 R5) netted an unprecedented fourth national rally championship victory and Derry’s Callum Devine (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) won the rally for a fourth successive time.

Four drivers were in with a chance of lifting the Vard Memorial Trophy as top seed Devine free of the shackles of the series, set the pace on the opening stage 6.6s ahead of title protagonists Ballylickey’s Daniel Cronin and Monaghan’s Sam Moffett (Hyundai i20 Rally2) 0.1s further behind in the tricky conditions due to overnight rain. The remaining title contenders Josh Moffett and Eddie Doherty (Skoda Fabia R5) were sixth and seventh respectively, the latter 10.3s off top spot.

Donegal’s Michael Boyle (VW Polo GTi R5) and Devine (again) set the pace on the remaining stages of the opening loop with Devine arriving at the Letterkenny service park with a 2.8s lead over Sam Moffett with Desi Henry (Citroen C3 Rally2) and Cronin completing the top quartet followed by Michael Boyle, Josh Moffett and Doherty.

As Devine continued to lead, a change to softer springs and some clicks to the suspension brought an immediate and dramatic response from Josh Moffett. A pair of fastest stage times blasted him into second spot - 7.9s behind Devine but more importantly 2.4s ahead of his brother Sam. Henry, who spun on the opening stage, was fourth. Michael Boyle lost some eight seconds with a spin on SS4, on the next stage Cronin spun on a right hand junction and ended up on the edge of a field, luckily the gate was open, however, as he extricated his VW Polo GTi from the process, he lost time further time when it stalled. Doherty fared worse and haemorrhaged time on SS5 with a puncture and with the other tyres delaminating, he plummeted to nineteenth.

The final loop of three stages produced drama aplenty. Cronin bowed out on SS7 after he slid wide on a right hander, glanced a tree and broke a steering arm. Devine’s Skoda punctured close to the finish of SS8 but he lost little time unlike Sam Moffett, who saw his championship chances go awry when his Hyundai punctured and he dropped to twenty-fifth. The final stage of the loop saw Devine and Moffett secure their respective fourth rally and national title successes. Boyle took third following a tie-break with Henry, both had identical times on the Power Stage. Tommy Doyle (Hyundai i20 R5) and Kevin Eves (Ford Fiesta Rally2) rounded out the top six. Sam Moffett eventually finished twenty-third overall - a position that only delivered six championship points and Cronin, despite his non-finish had enough points to secure second overall in the series, albeit on a tie-break with Doherty.

Champion Josh Moffett said, “It's been a tough day, it didn’t look good when we were down in sixth position. We just kept at it and the changes for the second loop worked, we’re just over the moon. Anything could have happened all day with the muck, the wet and the shiny conditions. Thankfully, it went our way today, but equally, it could have gone the other way too. Everybody was going very hard today, it’s been a tough year, it’s nice to get it.” 

The Irish crew of Jon Armstrong/Eoin Treacy (Ford Fiesta Rally2) finished second overall in Rally Silesia (Poland), the eighth and final round of the European Rally Championship where third place for New Zealander Hayden Paddon (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) was enough to clinch back to back European Rally Championship titles.

The Longford/Monaghan crew of Shane Dalton/Ryan Treanor (Subaru Impreza) took a narrow victory on the Cork Startrek Navigation Trial the opening round of the National and Munster Navigation Championships. They finished the 80-mile route on six penalties two ahead of the similar car of Limerick/Sligo pairing of Patsy McDonagh/Patrick Corcoran.

Defending national champions Monaghan’s Andy Mackarel and Limerick’s Greg Shinnors in yet another Subaru were third.

Donegal Harvest Rally (Final round Triton Showers National Rally Championship) Letterkenny: 1. C. Devine/N. O'Sullivan (Skoda Fabia RS Rally) 49m. 35.1s; 2. J. Moffett/K. Moriarty (Hyundai i20 R5)+12.4s; 3. M. Boyle/D. McCafferty (VW Polo GTi R5)+19.8s; 4. D. Henry/S. Byrne (Citroen C3 Rally2)+19.8s; 5. T. Doyle/L. Moynihan (Hyundai i20 Rally2)+51.4s; 6. K. Eves/C. Melly (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+55.9s; 7. K. Gallagher/R. Moore (Darrian T90 GTR)+1m. 08.6s; 8. A. Wray/P. Ward (VW Polo GTi R5)+1m. 28.1s; 9. G. Kiernan/J. McCabe (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+1m. 30.2s; 10. D. Gallagher/J. McCarthy (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+1m. 45.9s.

Triton Showers National Rally Championship (Positions after final round): 1. J. Moffett 119points; 2. D. Cronin 102pts; 3. E. Doherty 102 pts; 4. S. Moffett 101 pts.

Rally Silesia (Round 8, European Rally Championship) Poland: 1. A. Mabellini/V. Lenzi (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) 1h. 45m. 28.9s; 2. J. Armstrong/E. Treacy (Ford Fiesta Rally2)+18.4s; 3. H. Paddon Hayden/J. Kennard (Hyundai i20 N Rally2)+19.9s; 4. M. Marczyk/S. Gospodarczyk (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+24.1s; 5. M. Franceschi/A. Malfoy (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2)+53.2s; 6. Y. Bonato/B. Boulloud (Citroen C3 Rally2)+ 1:29.2 

Cork Startrek Navigation Trial (National and Munster Navigation Championships) Whitechurch: 1. S. Dalton/R. Treanor (Subaru Impreza) 6pens; 2. P. McDonagh/P. Corcoran (Subaru) 8pens; 3. A. Mackarel/G. Shinnors (Subaru Impreza) 10pens.