RallyNews Extra

Close, oh so close, were the stage times on last weekend’s long tough Wales Rally GB with Estonian Ott Tanak in his Yaris WRC coming out on top from Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), but only 10 seconds between them after the three and a bit days of rallying.  World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier in his Citroen was 3^rd, a further 12 seconds back. Interestingly on this rally Tanak didn’t set a huge number of fastest times. Both Neuville and Ogier had their fair share, Elfyn Evans had quite a few (7) after an unfortunate stage 3 puncture, and Kris Meeke was the man to beat in the early part of the rally, topping the time sheets. Inexorably though the NI man dropped out of contention as the pace stepped up and up.

What Ott Tanak and his co-driver Martin Jarveoja did do was stay consistent once they had taken the lead on the Friday evening. Even a damaged light pod through the Friday evening stages in darkness did not deter the Estonian too much. The icing on the cake for Tanak was winning the Brenig power stage for maximum bonus WRC points. Both Neuville and Ogier tried so very hard to reel in Tanak and keep their own World Rally Championship hopes alive. But it wasn’t to be. It was quite stunning how, on stage after long treacherous stage, these top drivers were separated by just a second here and there. There are two rallies left in the series, so it isn’t over as yet, but it will take something extraordinary to happen if Tanak is to be denied the 2019 World Driver’s Crown.

A very happy Toyota Team at the end of Wales Rally GB

Kris Meeke eventually finished 4^th, so possibly it was a slightly disappointing rally for him and his co-driver Seb Marshall having led for the first 9 stages. Elfyn Evans in his Fiesta WRC was 5^th. The Welsh driver, just back from an injury enforced lay-off, was fastest in stage 2 Elsi. But then he dropped 40 seconds in stage 3 as his Fiesta suffered a puncture and possibly some suspension malady. Normally that 40 seconds wouldn’t be the end of the world, but on this rally, despite the wet weather and muddy inconsistent roads, it was to prove too much to pull back, such was the unrelenting and metronome like huge pace at the front.

Elfyn was magnificent through the Saturday stages, on his ‘home patch’, but despite his heroics and bravery he could only pull back a second here and there because of the massive pace at the front. Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) rounded off the top six. Pontus Tidemand (Fiesta WRC) was 7^th and Craig Breen 8^th in his Hyundai.

Craig Breen and Paul Nagle who finished Wales Rally GB in 8th place after recovering from a crash on Saturday which saw them drop over 5 minutes.

Craig had an up and down rally, dropping from a close 6th to a distant 9^th in stage 12 Myherin when he crashed his Hyundai off the road on a left hand corner. Still, he did well to keep going, and that was despite a damaged windscreen and bodywork which made visibility for the Waterford man a bit tricky on the next stage. The talented young Finnish driver Kalle Rovanpera was 9^th and won the R5 battle in his Skoda Fabia from the evergreen Petter Solberg in 10^th, also in an R5, but in his case a VW.

Former World Rally Champion Petter, with Phil Mills alongside him once again, had a great rally. Often referred to as ‘Mr Hollywood’, Petter wowed the crowds with his opening performance on the Oulton Park spectator stage, recording a 3^rd fastest overall time, beating most of the WRC cars/drivers. It was a real Petter performance. Unfortunately matters did not go well for his son Oliver, reckoned to be a big chip off the old block. However Oliver’s VW broke down on the Friday morning and then again on the Saturday morning. End of dream for the weekend. Well, not quite, he got going on the Sunday in ‘Super Rally’, set some decent times and then rolled his Polo.

Some drives of merit included that of Tom Cave – 11^th o/a in his Hyundai and 3^rd R5 in the finisher’s list.  Cave and his co-driver Dale Furniss won the prestigious ‘All Welsh’ award as well as first privateer. Retirements included Latvala who crashed his Toyota in stage 7.  Just some other drivers who had to run in ‘Super Rally’ after encountering problems included British Rally Champion Matt Edwards, Mads Ostberg, Hayden Paddon and Esapekka Lappi.

Josh McErlean in action at Rally Wales GB – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Local man Josh McErlean retired his Hyundai i20 R5 with a mechanical problem after setting some decent times on his first WRC event.   There were many more, a further indicator of just how tough and relentless the rally was.  Eamonn Boland did make the finish as did Martin Brady.  Martin was co-driving for Keanna Erickson-Chang in a Fiesta R2T19.  Jan Solins won the RC4 class in his new model Fiesta R2T.  Ruari Bell completed the course in Super Rally in his Fiesta R2T.

Even one of the stages couldn’t run because of the weather. Great Orme was cancelled due to ‘rough sea conditions, preventing the safety diving team from getting into position!’ Surely that has to be first!

In the Wales Rally GB National part of the event held over 8 stages, John Wink/Neil Shanks in a Hyundai R5 came out on top, finishing 1m30s ahead of Dylan Davies/Llion  Williams in their Impreza. Alan Dickson/Martin Forrest (Lancer) were 3^rd.

Closer to home Harry and Chris Johnston in their MX5 won the Larne Club’s Autodock Laharna Lanes Rally. Brendan Mooney/Padraig Macatamney were 2^nd and Mark Francis/Adam Hilditch were 3^rd, to make it a Mazda MX-5 clean sweep. In MG Club’s Production Car Trial at Erwin’s farm in Cunningburn, Bailie Thompson and Will Thompson were the top two in their Corsa, with young Zak Armstrong 3^rd in his granddad Michael’s Rover.

This weekend coming we have the Donegal Harvest as well as the Tour of Mull. The Redcastle based event has attracted over 130 entries, with Donagh Kelly/Conor Foley topping the list in the new VW Polo GTI R5. This will be Donagh’s first competitive outing in the car. Muff man Joe McGonigle will be more or less on home ground on this event and he is seeded at 2 in a Fiesta WRC with Ciaran Geaney co-driving. Callum Devine, following his disappointment at retiring from the lead of the recent Cork ‘20’ is seeded at 3. Brian Hoy co-drives in Callum’s Fiesta R5. Seamus Leonard makes a comeback and starts at 4, with Paul McLaughlin co-driving in a Focus WRC. Next up are 5 two wheel drive cars, to be driven by Kevin Eves, Kevin Gallagher, Damien Gallagher, Damien Toner and Camillus Bradley. Aaron McLaughlin in a Fiesta R5 rounds off the top ten.  Tony Boyle is the CoC and he has laid on an interesting loop of three stages to be run three times this Saturday.

Entries for the forthcoming MJE Wheel Repair Tyrone Stages Rally (19^th October) continue to build. This Cookstown MC organised event is the penultimate round of the McGrady Insurance NI Championship. Former multiple NI Rally Champion Derek McGarrity has now entered, this time in a Skoda Fabia  WRC in place of the Fiesta WRC he has been driving this year. As well as McGarrity and current NI Points leader Derek McGeehan (Mini WRC), just some of the top names entered who are in with a chance of the title include Desi Henry (Fiesta WRC) and Stephen Wright (Fiesta R5). Other top drivers who have entered include Martin McKenna (Subaru Impreza WRC) and Gareth Sayers (Fiesta R5).

We said above that Kalle Rovanpera won the R5 battle on Wales Rally GB.  As we mentioned before the R5 class is confusingly split into two on the WRC.  Kalle won ‘WRC2 PRO’ with his 9^th o/a and also tied up the category in the WRC Championship. Petter Solberg won WRC2 by finishing 10^th o/a. All a little confusing, but reportedly the FIA has put in a new R5 category system for next season. The next WRC round this year is the Spanish counter on the 24^th – 27^th October. The driver points position at the top of the list is Tanak 240, Ogier 212 and Neuville 199.

Regards, Brian, Liz & Michael Patterson

Another new name was added to the Irish Tarmac Championship winners list last weekend when Marty McCormack, co-driven by Barney Mitchell in their hired VW Polo GTi R5, took victory on the Cork ‘20’. Not only was it Marty and Barney’s first Tarmac Championship win, it was the Volkswagen’s debut win in Ireland and the first win ever for a VW on the Irish Tarmac series. Draperstown man Marty would have no real knowledge of the classic Cork stages utilised for the rally, but he switched on to the roads and the VW very quickly. His biggest ‘moment’ of the event was probably sliding the car into the scenery on the road section to the opening Sunday stage, knocking off the front bumper!

Marty McCormack and co-driver Barney Mitchell gave the Volkswagen Polo GTi a winning Irish rallying debut on the CBtoolhire.com Cork “20” International Rally. Picture: Martin Walsh.

At the finish Marty said, “The VW was insanely superb!” Craig Breen had already tied up the Championship and wasn’t able to compete on this event (although his father Ray did in his MG Metro 6R4), but the fact that there was no battle for the Tarmac crown didn’t lessen the competition and excitement at the front. Callum Devine led through most of Saturday, but lost time with a broken driveshaft on his Fiesta. This left Daniel Cronin leading, but both put their cars off the road on the Sunday morning. Cathan McCourt was another front runner to fall by the wayside. From then on McCormack was relatively untroubled at the front though Merion Evans/Jonathan Jackson in their Fabia R5  pushed hard throughout and were rewarded with a fine 2^nd place, leaving McCormack little room to relax on the final stages. Jonny Greer/Kirsty Riddick were hampered a little through the wet Saturday stages with some gearbox worries but they finished well and took the final podium place.

Former multiple Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly was 4^th. This was a surprise turnaround for Donnelly who was going to give his Proton over to Rob Duggan, but that didn’t work out so Donnelly drove it himself, with Alister Wylie stepping in to co-drive. David Guest/Jonathan McGrath took 5^th in their older model Fabia S2000 and Denis Moynihan/Martin O’Brien (Fiesta R5) rounded off the top six.

William Creighton claimed the R2 title & FIA Junior Celtic Trophy in Cork. Pic Trevor Foster

William Creighton/Liam Regan in 8^th o/a had a very good run in their Peugeot 208 to win the R2 category on the rally and for the  seasons championship. Andy Davies/Michael Gilbey (Subaru) were sandwiched in between these latter two and they finished 7^th and winners of GpN on both the rally and the Championship.

Damien Toner & Michael Cody on their way to the National category win in Cork. Photo Martin Walsh

Similarly Damien Toner/Michael Cody in their Mk2 Escort won the National category of the event and also took the spoils in that part of the Championship. Toner and David Condell had the most marvellous battle through the rally, but Condell’s Escort gearbox cried enough before the end and he retired. Colin O’Donoghue was also right in the mix throughout with his Escort, but he had to accept 2^nd place in the end, 32 seconds behind Toner.

In the Historic part of the rally Owen Murphy/Anthony Nestor were in a league of their own, and despite a few mechanical problems with their Lotus Sunbeam finished over 2 minutes ahead of Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly (Escort). Top historic contender Ray Cunningham uncharacteristically retired when his Mini Cooper clattered into a stone bridge parapet. Kieran Reed/Mark O’Leary (Civic) won the Junior section from Aaron Browne/Daniel Hanratty in a similar Honda. 4^th placed Aaron McEvoy/Killian O’Brien in yet another Civic took the Junior title.

Other events outside Ireland last weekend included the Trackrod Rally as well as the European Championship Cyprus Rally. On the latter Nasser Al Attiyah in his VW Polo GTI R5 took a superb win. Chris Ingram (Skoda) was 2^nd on this very tough event, Mikko Hirvonen (Fiesta R5) 3^rd. Ingram, who is co-driven by Ross Whittock, now leads the European Championship, with just the Hungarian round to go. On the Trackrod, the spotlight was very much on the Historic section and was won by Matthew Robinson (Escort) from Matt Edwards (Fiat 131) and with the amazing Steve Bannister (Escort) 3^rd. Adrian Hetherington in his RS1800 scored at least one fastest time on his way to 5^th.

Stanley Orr in his Mk1 Escort slipped from 4^th to 7^th after a losing a bit of time on a couple of the Saturday morning stages when his Escort didn’t seem to be getting grip. In addition, with reverse seeding, the Mk1 Escort will always struggle a bit more than a Mk2 over rough surfaces. Stanley still won his class in the rally and the Championship, and also finished 2^nd o/a in the Championship, so the Killinchy man wasn’t too downhearted. Simon Webster in his Mk2 was able to pace himself and finished 4 seconds ahead of Orr to clinch the British Historic series, although in reality Stanley would have had to finish about 6 places ahead of him to take the title. Although Stanley has won his class throughout the season, a ‘DNF’ at the Epynt rally spoiled his chances of the overall title.

Ollie Mellors/Ian Windress on way to Trackrod Rally win. Image by Chicane Media

In the section of the rally for modern machinery Ollie Mellors/Ian Windress took outright victory in their Proton Iriz R5, from Mat Smith/Giles Dykes in a Fiesta. Top BTRDA points scorer was Stephen Petch/Michael Wilkinson in 3^rd place with their Fiesta WRC.

Now it is time to look forward to this weekend coming and observe the best rally drivers in the world strut their stuff through the magnificent Welsh forest stages such as Hafren, Dyfi, Myherin, Penmachno and Dyfnant on Wales Rally GB. Three drivers in three different makes of car can still win this season’s World Rally Champion Driver title: current World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier in his Citroen, Ott Tanak in his Toyota and Thierry Neuville for Hyundai. All these modern WRC cars produce around 330 brake horsepower and with their current ‘aero’ packages and ever improving suspension, trick differentials, brakes, electronic gizmos and tyres, the speed of these top guys is just jaw dropping.

No matter if the Welsh forests are wet and muddy or dry and dusty, the former the more likely, the pace will almost certainly be the highest ever witnessed through these forests. Such is the depth of talent and competition amongst the top drivers that it is impossible to guess who will head the leaderboard over the four days of the event. Who for example would bet against Kris Meeke in his Yaris WRC? Or Elfyn Evans, on a comeback drive following his back injury earlier in the season? The Welshman is now bursting to get back into the fray. He is hoping and planning that in his M-Sport Ford Focus WRC he can recapture the form that immortalised him to the Welsh Rally fans when he took that superb Wales Rally GB victory two years ago. Craig Breen gets another WRC chance with the Hyundai team, both Esapekka Lappi(Citroen) and Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) have both hit sweet spots recently and could make the rally headlines before this weekend is out. So it goes on, all very talented WRC drivers, and virtually any one of them is capable of taking victory. The bookie’s favourite must though be Ott Tanak!

The event kicks off with a spectator stage on Thursday evening in Oulton Park. Many rally enthusiasts decry ‘artificial’ type stages, but this one looks as if it could be very special. Oulton is a fine circuit and the drivers will also use many very slippy link roads as well as some gravel sections, and then with a fireworks display thrown in for good measure. After that it is back to Llandudno for the Thursday night halt before the forest stages proper on Friday morning. Then it is an early start for the drivers before travelling into the Elsi, Penmachno and Dyfnant forests. There are 22 stages on the agenda before the Sunday lunchtime finish and only then will we know whose name goes on the Trophy for winning this 75^th running of the event.

Outside of those world stars at the front of the field there is plenty more interest. For instance, it is a story of its own, former World Rally Champion Petter Solberg making his swansong on this event, 16 years after clinching the World Rally Driver Champion title here in Wales. Petter’s sensational son Oliver, just days after his 18^th birthday and already with several rally wins under his belt, is running in his father’s wheel tracks in a similar VW Polo GTI R5. Petter has his former co-driver, Welshman Phil Mills in the hot seat, while Oliver has Tyrone man Aaron Johnston. We can expect some fireworks in the Norwegian department!

Indeed the R5 category has plenty of interesting drivers – Mads Ostberg, Hayden Paddon, Jan Kopecky, Gus Greensmith, to name just a few. Tucked in behind some of the ‘superstars’ is Rhys Yates, the Welshman reckoned to be one of best drivers in Britain, but also very under-funded. Rhys will be co-driven in his Hyundai R5 by James Morgan. Also in i20 R5s will be British Champion Matt Edwards, Tom Cave and Josh McErlean. Josh, just 20 years old and from Kilrea gets this drive as his reward for winning the Junior category in the British Rally Championship. He will be co-driven in the Melvyn Evans supplied Hyundai i20 R5 by Keaton Williams. For Josh this is a very big step: his first proper run in a four wheel drive car, and his maiden voyage in a World Championship Rally. Other ‘home’ connections include Eamonn Boland to drive his Fiesta R5.  Niall Burns will co-drive for the American competitor Keanna Erickson-Chang in a Fiesta R2. Young Ruari Bell, the young Englishman ‘adopted’ by many Irish fans, will drive his Fiesta R2.

News this week, although not initially about rallying, includes Ballynure man Jonathan Rea on his Kawasaki clinching his fifth consecutive World Superbike title at Magny Cours, even with a couple of races still to run. Superstar Rea, one of the nicest guys ever to throw his leg over a motorbike saddle, recounted that this was his toughest season ever. However, always courteous and calm, Jonathan overcame every difficulty with consummate style. On the four wheel racing front, Co. Down’s Daniel Harper won the Porsche Carrera Cup GB, which is pretty special. Daniel, only 18 years old, won 7 races outright this season. Charlie Eastwood, MI Young Racing Driver of the Year was an integral part of the team that won the Blancpain Pro-Am Championship, which again is very noteworthy.

Reverting to rallying, coming up shortly is the East African Safari Classic Rally, where the 2017 ‘joint’ winner Ryan Champion will be back in Tuthill Porsche 911 action. Interestingly, the just released FIA WRC calendar for 2020 includes the main Safari Rally, the first time for many years (17) that the African classic has been a counter. There is no mention in that calendar of a WRC round in Northern Ireland. Perhaps that will happen in 2021. Rally GB is shifted more towards its traditional date, (29^th Oct to 1^st Nov 2020)and is referred to on some paperwork as the final dirt event of the season. Rally Spain has gone from the calendar, as has Australia, to be replaced by New Zealand. Japan is included and Corsica has gone, to make it 14 rounds once again, but with less emphasis on Europe.

Closer to home Larne MC is running a lanes rally this weekend, the Autodock Laharna Lanes Rally and the MG Club (Ulster Centre) is running a production car trial at Cunningham outside Newtownards. Coming up soon, on the 19^th October, Cookstown MC is running the Tyrone Stages Rally at Magilligan/Benone Beach. This is a counter in the McGrady Insurance series, with 14 short, super smooth asphalt stages. Service is in the Benone Beach Complex, so road miles are at a minimum. The event is backed by MJE Wheel Repair Specialists Cookstown. Already entered is Derek McGeehan (Mini WRC), current points leader of the NI series. More information on this rally, which certainly should be very enjoyable for the competitors, will be available next week.

Just one more aspect to this weekend’s Rally Wales GB is that the final of the eSports WRC Championship will take place this Saturday in Llandudno. Nine elite pilots from five countries, including current Champion Jon Armstrong from Fermanagh (Winner of this year’s Down Rally) will battle ‘head to head’ for the coveted eSports WRC Champion title.

Regards, Brian, Liz and Michael Patterson.

Donegal Harvest Rally 2019.

Below is a short sample video along with our usual stage data samples for the Donegal Harvest Rally 2019. We have completed our pre event recce and the notes and video are ready for posting from Monday 30th September.

Donegal Harvest Rally 2019 – Stage Data.

Donegal Harvest Sample 2019 1080p

Notes & DVD are now available to order for despatch 30th September. Telephone 028 90844111 or order online at RallyNews.net – Click Here

Dessie Henry powering to victory on last weekend’s Bushwhacker. Photo NI Championship.

Last Saturday’s McKelvey Asbestos backed Bushwhacker rally produced a predicted winner in Desi Henry, but a complete surprise in the leader for most of the day, Martynas Samsonas in his very special rocket ship BMW. Desi Henry, co-driven by Conor Mohan in his Fiesta WRC, was hampered initially by being first on the road, sweeping the top layer of loose gravel. As the day progressed Henry gradually closed up on the flying BMW at the front. Suspension specialist Samsonas from Lithuania lost some momentum when his BMW engine suffered a clogged breather pipe, and allowed Henry to lead when it mattered, for the chequered flag.

Niall McCullagh also put in a storming finish aided by some other drivers having problems. They included Patrick O’Brien/Stephen O’Hanlon, their R5 blowing its turbo and blowing as well an almost certain podium place. As it was Niall McCullagh, co-driven by Ryan McCloskey in his Fiesta R5, scored one of his best results with 3rd place.

The overall win for Desi Henry means that, more than ever, he could take the McGrady Insurance NI Championship title despite missing some of the earlier rounds. Derek McGeehan, Derek McGarrity and Stephen Wright are the three who on paper are in contention for the Championship, with Desi Henry well back but coming into the picture like an express train. McGeehan, co-driven by his son Mark, finished down in 11th place having lost some time when he spun his Mini WRC. Derek McGarrity/Paddy Robinson were once again plagued by an elusive misfire in their Fiesta WRC and they finished 8th. Stephen Wright /Liam Moynihan (Fiesta R5) were 7th, Stephen still gaining gravel experience but still leads the Championship points.

Martynas Samsonas impressed once again in his powerful BMW. Picture M Sergeant

Just outside the top three on this McKelvey Asbestos sponsored Bushwhacker, Conor McCourt/Caolan McKenna finished 4th in their Fiesta R5 and Jock Armstrong made the trip from Dumfries worthwhile by taking 5th. Jock was co-driven in his Subaru by Graham Henderson. The 2 wheel drive battle eventually went to Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan in their Mk2 Escort. They finished just 3 seconds ahead of Shane McGirr/Denver Rafferty (Starlet) after a marvellous day long battle.

Some of the other class winners included Drew Chambers/Wendy Blackledge (Peugeot 206 GTI), Austin Snow/John Henderson (Lancer), Damien Conlin/Gareth Lewthwaite (Nova), Ruari Maguire/Cathan McCourt (Corsa) Hugh McQuaid/Enda Gerety (Escort).

Also last weekend, Kenneth Murray/Gordon Noble won the Dungannon based Moonraker Rally from Philip & Kyle Somerville in a Rover Mini. John & Jonathan Henderson were 3rd in their Micra and Michael Reid/John Lindsay 4th in their MG Midget. The event took place over the back roads West of Dungannon.

This weekend the main home rally focus will be on the CB Toolhire backed Cork ‘20’. The rally has received a strong entry and in the sign of the times the top end of the list is dominated by R5 machinery. Callum Devine/Brian Hoy are the top seeds in a Fiesta, then it is Jonny Greer/Kirsty Riddick in a similar Fiesta. Marty McCormack/Barney Mitchell are at 3 in a Dom Buckley VW Polo GTi R5 and it will be interesting to see how they go on the car’s Irish debut. Merion Evans/Jonathan Jackson are at 4 in a Skoda, Daniel Cronin/JJ Cremin, 2nd here last year, are at 5 in their Fiesta, and Andrew Purcell/Liam Brennan start at 6 in their Fiesta, hopefully fully repaired since its Wexford mishap. Then at 7 we have Cathan McCourt and listed at 8 is Eugene Donnelly, just back from his honeymoon. However, reportedly Rob Duggan in an R5 is taking over that entry, which should add yet another dimension to the leaderboard battle. At 9 is David Guest and at 10 Sacha Kakad. Jordan and Paul Hone are slotted in at 14 for their first run in an R5 car (it was mooted to be a Hyundai, but that has been changed to Fiesta R5).

Creighton stuned the opposition at the Galloway Hills Rally after recovering from a puncture and going on to win the BRC Junior category. It’s all go again this weekend in Cork.
Image credit: Colin Smith

Top two wheel drive exponents are Damien Toner/Michael Coady and David Condell/Paul Kelly, both in Mk2 Escorts. William Creighton/Liam Regan are seeded at 41 in their Peugeot 208 R2, just ahead of Johnnie Mulholland/Charles Gallagher in their Fiesta R2T.

The Cork ‘20’ is the final round of the Irish Tarmac Championship and carries ‘points and a half’ so both William and Johnnie still have a chance of winning the ‘R2’ category. The overall title has of course gone the way of Craig Breen/Paul Nagle on the Ulster Rally.

Besides the interest in the top of the Cork ‘20’ list as to who will be doing the winning and losing through the rallies’ 12 glorious stages, there are many interesting drivers and cars entered. Owen Murphy/Anthony Nestor for example will be battling it out for Historic honours in a Lotus Sunbeam. John & Stephen Coyne are in a fabulous Porsche 997 GT3. Adrian Kermode/Paula Swinscoe are in a Porsche 911, as are Brendan McAree/Niall Kelly. Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy are out in a BMW M3. Aaron Browne/Daniel Hanratty head the Junior contingent in their Civic.

The rally, which was originally to be based in Macroom but is now stationed in Little Island to the East of Cork City near Midleton. The event starts at 10.30 on Saturday morning, main service is at Macroom, overnight halt back at the Radisson Blu in Little Island and the finish is there on Sunday afternoon at approximately 5pm.

Also this weekend the Trackrod Rally will run through the classic Yorkshire forests. The event is a counter in the BTRDA as well as the British Historic Rally Championship. The Historic entries include Matt Edwards in a Fiat 131 Abarth, Bob Bean in a Lotus Cortina and the always very fast Nick Elliott in his Escort. Two crews making the trip from here include Stanley Orr/Graham Henderson and they will drive their Mark 1 Escort, while in a Mk2 will be Adrian Hetherington/Ronan O’Neill. In the

Stanley Orr/Graham Henderson make the trip to Yorkshire as the final round of their BHRC campaign.

BTRDA section just some of the top seeds include Stephen Petch in his Fiesta WRC and Ollie Mellors in a Proton R5. The historic category will tackle a big stage on Friday night, and then resume on Saturday morning, which will be a great warm-up for the Roger Albert Clark. When we contacted him at his Co Down workshop, Stanley Orr commented on the big Friday night stage, “Yes, it is so fast, it is going to take a big commitment in the dark. I have been going over the DVD of the stages, and trying to really pin down the distances.” Stanley has had a brilliant year in the British Historics, except for a major disappointment on the Epynt event when his Mk1’s engine went off a cylinder and he had to switch it off. He went on to say, “Other than that, I could have had the overall Championship sewn up, five class wins out of six rallies, five to count. I have the class won ok, but the overall win is not going to be easy. We are 2nd o/a at the moment The car is good, the engine was great on the Ulster. Simon Webster (Mk2 BDA) is the man to beat. Like myself he is not a youngster, and he has been at the top, led rallies, for many years, but luck hasn’t been on his side. This year it is all going well for him, and he has good experience in Yorkshire, whereas the last time I was there was in the Eighties.” We will watch the Trackrod results with interest!

News this week includes the arrival of a new, latest homologated version of the VW Polo GTi R5 to come to Ireland. The car is headed for the Donagh Kelly stable. Donagh’s Skoda R5 is now at Derek McGarrity’s business in Co. Antrim. Robin Phillips competed in the Bushwhacker with his immaculate Subaru Impreza WRC. Robin won the rally 25 years ago and the organisers gave him the number 25 in recognition! News of another star is that Jimmy McRae is competing on the National section of Wales Rally GB in a Porsche 911. The next round of the NI Rally Championship is the Tyrone Stages on the 19th October. Once again the Cookstown MC event will have super smooth asphalt stages around the Magilligan complex fornenst Benone Beach.

Bangor’s Allan Harryman had a great result at the weekend, co-driving John Papadimitriou in his Skoda Fabia R5 to victory on the MyKteo Fthinoporino Rally. British Rally Champion Matt Edwards is to drive a Hyundai R5 and not his usual Fiesta R5 on next week’s Wales Rally GB. Matt will have Mark Glennerster co-driving as usual, and they will have Josh McErlean/Keaton Williams as team-mates for the weekend.

The very tough European Championship Cyprus rally takes place this coming weekend, with Chris Ingram/Ross Whittock the No.1 seeds in their Skoda Fabia R5 ‘Evo’. Previous winner Nasser Al-Attiyah is seeded at number 4 in a VW Polo GTI R5. Mikko Hirvonen is at 6 and to drive a Fiesta R5. Fermanagh’s Marshall Clarke is co-driving for Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari in a Skoda R5.

Multiple rally winner Oliver Solberg has just celebrated his 18th birthday, so should be ‘legal’ to drive as planned on next week’s Wales Rally GB, with Tyrone’s Aaron Johnston co-driving in his VW Polo GTi R5. It should be quite an occasion for the Solberg family with father Petter completing his retirement tour on the same event, also driving a VW Polo R5. It was on Wales Rally GB 16 years ago of course that Petter clinched his World Rally Championship victory, with Phil Mills co-driving then and is co-driving again this time.

Regards, Brian, Liz & Michael Patterson

NI Championship Points after Bushwhacker Rally (PDF Document)

Irish Notes 18th September 2019

Breathtaking terrain no doubt, but the WRC Rally Turkey’s rock strewn, dusty, tyre shredding tracks made the going very tough for the drivers. Oh and there were bouts of torrential rain interrupting the searing heat. It was World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier, very much on his mettle, who shrugged of these most difficult rally conditions and took a hard earned victory just ahead of his Citroen teammate Esapekka Lappi. This Citroen ‘one–two’ result not only rejuvenated the Citroen team, it added real impetus to Ogier’s challenge to retain his Champion’s crown. Ott Tanak still heads the WRC driver’s points but his run of wins ground to a halt in Turkey when the electrics of his Yaris WRC stopped playing ball. Tanak did rejoin for the final day and set fastest time in the power stage.

The other main player in the WRC title battle is Thierry Neuville. The Belgian battled hard in Turkey but got caught out in the dust on Saturday afternoon and his Hyundai became stuck off the road for four minutes. This did his WRC title hopes no favours at all. He eventually finished 8th, with Meeke 7th. Andreas Mikkelsen did keep the Hyundai flag flying with his 3rd place finish. Teemu Suninen in the pace-setting M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC was 4th, Dani Sordo (Hyundai) was 5th and Jari-Matti Latvala (Yaris), following punctures, was 6th.

One of the drives of the rally came from Gus Greensmith who was 10th o/a and won the R5 division in his very battered Fiesta R5 Mk2 – battered because he crashed at the finish of the penultimate stage but managed to keep going. Confusingly the R5 class is now divided into two sections so it is not easy to figure out who is winning what, but Jan Kopecky finished 11th o/a in his Skoda R5. In overall terms, Hyundai continues to lead the WRC Manufacturer’s points, while in the driver’s points Ott Tanak has 210, Ogier 193 and Neuville 180.

Meanwhile Frank Kelly, co-driven by his daughter Lauren, took a trip to Belgium last weekend and had a ball on his way to 2nd place on Escort Rally Special, based at Chimay. Frank lost some time early in the event, firstly with difficult visibility, then with clouting a couple of straw bales. As the rally progressed he started to mix in with the fastest times to finish 2nd o/a. Frank paid great tribute to his fellow driver from home Jack Newman, who put up great times and was ahead of Frank most of the way, but then Jack was forced to retire his Mk2 on the final stage. Francois Duval was the outright winner, while Welshman Tomas Davies did well to finish 3rd. Alister McRae made the trip from Australia and he finished 4th.

David Bogie secured the SRC win at the Galloway Hills on his MINI WRC debut
Image credit – Eddie Kelly Motorsport Photography

Slightly closer to home, Tom Cave/Dale Bowen in their rebuilt Hyundai R5 were fastest on all 9 stages (the rally should have had 9 stages, but the event was running so late the final test was abandoned) to take a clear victory on the Galloway Hills Rally, final round of this season’s British Rally Championship. Despite this dazzling display, Cave didn’t win the Championship, that honour going to Matt Edwards/Patrick Walsh in their Fiesta R5. Edwards knew before the start he didn’t have to win the rally to retain his British Rally Champion’s crown and his best plan was to keep his Fiesta’s nose clean, adopt a steady pace through the difficult and technical Galloway stages and the title would be his. That is exactly what the North Wales man did do. Jonny Greer, co-driven this time by Dai Roberts in his Fiesta R5, had a very good rally to finish 2nd o/a, 54 seconds behind Cave, over a minute ahead of Edwards.

James Wilson continued his R5 learning curve with a solid 4th in his Hyundai, guided once again by Arthur Kierans.

William Creighton/Liam Regan were stars of the show, recovering from an early puncture on their Peugeot 208 R2 to take 5th o/a and win the BRC Junior section. Marty Gallagher/Dean O’Sullivan also gave the rally a real good go and finished just over 5 seconds behind Creighton. Marty was driving a Fiesta R2T and both drivers will receive a substantial slice of the

Ruairi Bell / Darren Garrod – Ruairi Bell helped to cement his plans for 2020 by winning €60,000 towards an FIA JWRC campaign. – Jakob Ebrey Photohraphy

junior prize fund. Earlier in the day it had been Jordan Hone/Keaton Williams who had set the Junior pace in their Opel Adam. However a rear wheel of the Opel dropped into the ditch in stage 6, the car then catapulted across the track into the

other ditch. They were able to finish the stage but could go no further because of radiator and other damage. Ruari Bell/Darren Garrod finished in 11th o/a and they won the €60,000 voucher from M-Sport and Pirelli for topping the Ford Fiesta R2 Trophy standings. In the Scottish Championship part of Galloway, run over a lesser mileage, David Bogie, driving Derek McGeehan’s Mini WRC, had a clear win over Jock Armstrong in his Subaru.

Also last weekend we had the Clare stages rally and Roy White/James O’Brien in their Fiesta WRC took the victory, with Daniel Cronin/JJ Cremin 2nd in their Fiesta R5, just 15 seconds back. Ian Barrett/Paul McGee brought their Darrian into 3rd. Roy commented after the rally that it hadn’t been an easy event. Although he thought the stages were very good, he found the constant damp and mizzly conditions throughout the day made it very challenging. He also said that Daniel Cronin had set some very good times, so the pressure was constantly on. Having said that, Roy did admit that his main aim for the day was to get his Fiesta WRC to the finish in a good enough position to clinch the West Coast Championship, which he did.

Roy White-James O’Brien – winners of last weekend’s Dougie Hughes Memorial Clare Stages – Photo – Dermot Kellaher

Ian Roche/Anthony Nestor brought their Impreza WRC into 4th, Declan McCrory/Stephen O’Hanlon (Fiesta R5) were 5th and Aidan Wray/Kieran McGrath did well to bring their GpN Lancer Evo 10 into 6th o/a. Third placed Ian Barrett took the accolade for highest 2wd finisher, while best Escort tag went to Sean Moran in 12th o/a and a class winner. Ed Synan/Tom Collins in their Subaru Impreza WRC had a bit of an overheating issue on the opening stage then put in some decent times until a gearbox worry brought their rally to a premature end. Mike Quinn non-started following engine problems with his Subaru on the Wexford rally. Niall O’Sullivan/Sean Crowley won class 11F in their Citroen C2 and Niall O’Connell/Tommy O’Connor finished 1st in class 2 with their Citroen C2 R2 Max. Best Juniors were Cathal Nolan/Emel McNamara in their Civic and they won class 16. The other junior winners, who won class 16A and also drove a Civic, were Jake Lennon/Aaron Lennon.

Looking forward to this weekend’s Bushwhacker Rally, a counter in the NI Championship, there is certainly an interesting entry. Top drivers include current Championship leader Derek McGeehan in his Mini WRC, Connor McCloskey and Derek McGarrity in their respective Fiestas, Stephen Wright, who has a fighting chance of the Championship, Jock Armstrong, who makes the trip from Scotland to compete in his Subaru, with Graham Henderson co-driving. Drivers in two wheel drive machinery include Shane McGirr and Adrian Hetherington.

News this week includes young Oliver Solberg winning another rally in the USA, driving for Subaru America. As mentioned above, Roy White has won the West Coast Rally series following his Clare win, and former National Champion Roy and last year’s Cork 20 winner, told us that his racing overalls are washed and on top of the wardrobe in a bag until next year! Roy says he has no plans to change his 2010 Fiesta WRC, but at the same time he is keeping a close eye on the progress of the new Polo R5 and the latest Fiesta R5. Roy reckons his rallying schedule for next year will be something similar to this season.

Former GpN National and forestry champion Owen Murphy got married to Ciara (Deasey) last weekend at Thurles X. Very Best wishes to them for the future. Reportedly it was a very pleasant day indeed!

Niall O’Connell/Tommy O’Connor in their Citroen C2R2 Max have won the 2wd division of the West Coast Championship and we are happy to report that they were using Patterson Notes.

On the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally last weekend, Cornelius O’Sullivan/Aileen Kelly finished a very creditable 4th o/a in their Lancer, while John O’Sullivan/Shane Farrell were 7th in a Fiesta.

Looming large on the rally horizon, as well as the Omagh based Bushwhacker this weekend is the Cheviot Rally on Otterburn and also the McRae stages at Knockhill. Next weekend 27th/28th/29th September we have the Trackrod Rally in Yorkshire, the Cork ‘20’ and the iconic European Championship Cyprus Rally. The Cork ‘20’, as well as having fabulous stages, is shaping up to have a really good entry as well. Latest addition to the top entry which includes Callum Devine and Jonny Greer in Fiesta R5’s, along with Merion Evans in a Skoda R5 The biggest story is that Marty McCormack to drive one of the new Polo R5’s. This will be the Irish debut for the VW, which has already proved itself a winner in different parts of the world. The following weekend of course it is the turn of the WRC Wales Rally GB. We will have more news on all these next week.

Regards: Brian, Liz & Michael Patterson

Last weekend’s Lakeland Stages provided plenty of action, with Desi Henry/Damien Connolly in their Fiesta WRC keeping Sam Moffett/James Fulton (Fiesta) at bay, Desi winning by 22 seconds. Cathan McCourt/Barry McNulty kept their Fiesta R5 in the hunt throughout to emphasise their Valvoline Championship winning form this season to take 3rd, just 11 seconds behind Moffett. Vivian Hamill/Andrew Grennan had a good run to 4th in their Fiesta R5, Donagh Kelly/Conor Foley seemed to get to grips with their Fabia R5 and they were 5th, with Patrick O’Brien again showing a lot of class to take 6th in his Lancer. Thomas Nugent was co-driving for O’Brien. David Condell & co driver Paul Kelly were the top 2wd finishers in their Escort from John Gordon/Thomas Wedlock, also in an Escort.

Lakeland win sets Desi Henry up for a late title challenge.

David Crossen was the expected 2wd front runner but he damaged the steering rack of his Escort and the car snapped sideways exiting a stage 3 corner and his rally finished in the ditch. Also in a sheugh was Shane McGirr, his Starlet sliding off on a ‘6R>’, fortunately with no damage, but stuck. (Shane is still on course for the Galloway Hills Rally.) Adrian Hetherington also retired his Escort. Such was the pace over the Lakeland’s many big crests and dips, the retirement rate was high. Surmounting all the challenges, Kyle White/Sean Topping in their Peugeot 208 R2 won their class and achieved ‘best junior’ on the day tag. Marc Johnston/Colin Irvine won class 5 in their Escort and Stanley Orr/Graham Henderson in their Mk1 Escort RS1600 won class 10, best Historic.

The rally was a round of both the NI Championship and the Valvoline Irish Forest series. In the NI Championship Derek McGeehan, co-driven by his son Mark, still leads the points after finishing 13th. Derek told us that he took it fairly easy over the big jumps dips first time through, also finding the stages slippy. Second time through he gave his Mini WRC its head and in one place it virtually landed on its headlamps. He got away with it, but it was a reminder that even WRC cars have their limits. Besides which, Derek has the car hired to David Bogie for this weekend coming, to drive on the Galloway Hills. Derek McGarrity was one of Derek’s closest pursuers in the points table before the rally, but McGarrity retired his Fiesta somewhere around stage 4, reportedly with a damaged wheel. This leaves Stephen Wright as McGeehan’s closest pursuer. Stephen and his co-driver Arthur Kierans brought their Fiesta R5 home in 8th. There are still two rounds to go, which also means that Desi Henry could well come into the title race reckoning.

While competitors were battling through the forests in Fermanagh almost 100 cars were starting the VW Wexford Stages. James Stafford in his Darrian was able to cruise to victory following a massive battle with Andrew Purcell (Fiesta R5). Despite a stage 2 excursion into a field which also involved circumnavigating some cows, Purcell held the lead for a while on the Saturday. Purcell then had a spin on the final Saturday stage which meant Stafford held a slender lead on the Saturday night. Then on the 2nd Sunday stage Purcell, a comparative stranger to asphalt rallying, took a lefthander just a fraction too fast and put his Fiesta off the road and out of the rally. Stafford went on to win by almost 2 minutes from Stephen McCann (Fiesta R5), with Wesley Patterson a very accomplished 3rd in his Mk2 Escort, albeit a further 37 seconds back.

Meanwhile, while all this was going on in Ireland, there were two new closed road special stage events taking place across the Irish Sea. One of them was the ‘Three Shires’, where Martyn and Dawn England took a clear victory in their Fiesta R5. Their winning margin was almost 1minute 30 seconds over Andy Fraser/Alan Jones in a Darrian. Alex Allingham/Ross Weir were 3rd in their Escort, a further 36 seconds back.

Action on the Three Shires Rally

Osian Pryce triumphs on Rali Bae Ceredigion

Then on the Sunday the Rali Ceredigian took place, a landmark event as it was the first closed road special stage in Wales. Osian Pryce/Dale Furniss in a Hyundai R5 had a massive battle with Tom Cave/Dale Bowen, Pryce taking the win by 7.7 seconds after the 8 very demanding, very exciting stages. Cave did have some brake worries which didn’t help his cause. Hugh Hunter was in the top four but retired his Focus WRC with a broken clutch. Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke were a brilliant 3rd in a Mk2 Escort, Damian Cole/Max Freeman (Fiesta WRC) 4th. (Cole’s company, ‘Get Connected’, also sponsored the rally). Meilyr Evans/Ruodri Evans were 5th, and Marty McCormack/Barney Mitchell 6th, both crews driving Mk2 Escorts. Notable retirements included Merion Evans who led after the first stage but put his Skoda off the road in stage 2, while Hugh Hunter’s Focus WRC suffered a broken clutch and Daniel Harper’s Mini WRC stopped with a broken driveshaft.

Looking forward to this weekend, the Galloway Hills rally takes place on Friday night and Saturday. In Turkey we have a round of the WRC, while at home the Dougie Hughes Memorial Clare Stages will run on this Sunday. On the latter event, former National Champion Roy White is the number 1 seed. Roy will drive his Fiesta WRC with James O’Brien co-driving. Behind White is a strong top line-up, with Ed Synan/Tom Collins at 2 in a Subaru Impreza WRC and Mike Quinn/Tony Healy at 3 in another Impreza WRC. At 4 is Ian Barrett/Paul McGee in a Darrian, with a similar machine at 5, to be driven by Kevin Gallagher. The top half dozen is rounded off by Aidan Wray/Kieran McGrath in their Mitsubishi Lancer. Ian Roche (Impreza WRC) JF Shovelin, Johno Doogan and John Bonner, all three in Escorts, make up the top ten. Just some of the interesting drivers/cars outside of that include Keith Lyons in his Fiesta R5, Gary McNamee at 17 in his Civic, Alan Callaghan at 19 in his Subaru and James Murphy at 20 in a Fiesta WRC.

Over in Scotland, for the British Championship finale Galloway Hills, which has moved its base from Castle Douglas to Dalbeattie, there is a mixed entry, with contenders in both the BRC and the Scottish Championship to face some classic stages. The BRC title fight is between defending Champion Matt Edwards and Tom Cave. In theory Edwards in his Fiesta R5 is well in front in the points race, but both drivers will play their joker which doubles their points for this rally – so both need a result! Cave will drive his Hyundai i20 R5. Just some of the drivers who are in with a chance of a good result include Alex Laffey, Jonny Greer, Alan Carmichael, Enda McCormick and James Wilson. David Bogie has decided not to go for BRC points and he will drive Derek McGeehan’s Mini WRC. There should be some hot action in the Junior division as well, even though Josh McErlean has the title sewn up. There is still a €60,000 prize to be picked up in the Ford Fiesta Trophy – Ruari Bell, James Williams and Finlay Retson are all in with a shout for that one. Also in Junior action will be William Creighton (Peugeot), Marty Gallagher (Fiesta) and Jordan Hone (Opel Adam).

Recently crowned Junior British Rally Champion Josh McErlean will contest Wales Rally GB (3-6 October) in a Hyundai i20 R5. McErlean, from Kilrea in Northern Ireland, sealed the British title on his home round of the BRC – the Today’s Ulster Rally last month – and will now contest Britain’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship in the latest specification R5 machine courtesy of Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing and the British Rally Championship.

Josh McErlean will drive a Hyundai i20 R5 on Wales Rally GB

News this week includes Elfyn Evans coming back for WRC action. Elfyn will have a new M-Sport Fiesta WRC for his return on Wales Rally GB. Elfyn’s back injury is now reportedly 100% ok, so no doubt he will be trying flat out to repeat his home win of a couple of years ago.

Former co-driver Michael Gibson and his wife Val ran in the Great North Run last weekend, a feat they have accomplished many times, and once again, along with several friends, raised a substantial amount for the Marie Curie Foundation. Michael still does the occasional rally with Neil Simpson. As has happened to so many co-drivers, a back injury some years ago meant Michael reducing his rally activities.

Coming up next week is the always popular Bushwhacker Forest Rally, the next round of the NI Stage Championship. This always popular forest event is as usual based in Omagh and despite losing the Carrickaholton Forest this year, Omagh MC has made up stage mileage with a route including both the Lough Braden stages and the Killeter forests.

The provisional winners after Wexford of the Hugo Loonam Motors Midlands East Rally Championship reads: 1st Billy Nolan & Shane O’Mahony 81 points, 2nd Ritchie Dalton & Jeff Case 75 points, 3rd James Stafford 74 points & Shane Gorman 71.5 pts.

The Cork ‘20’ rally is shifting its rally HQ hotel from Macroom to Little Island outside Cork as the Riverside Hotel unexpectedly closed a few weeks ago. As usual the Cork ‘20’ stages are an absolute delight, really brilliant, and the new more streamlined format should mean that a driver could complete his ‘recce’ in one day.

Regards: Brian, Liz & Michael Patterson

Irish Notes 4^th September 2019

On last weekend’s Woodpecker it was Ollie Mellors who took the win from relative newcomer to 4wd, George Lepley. The latter was just 20 seconds down at the finish having set several fastest times in the latter part of this quite tough forest stage event. Stephen Petch was 3^rd. Sean Devine, co-driven by Niall Burns in his Fiesta R5, made one of his now occasional rally outings and got a decent result, 15^th o/a.  Marty McCormack was 17^th o/a and 2^nd Historic home in his Mk2 Escort. Barney Mitchell was co-driving for Marty. The Historics were won by Tom Llewellin, also in an Escort. Marty remarked after the rally, “It was hard to get back into the Mk 2 after the R5. There is a lot more driving in it, it was some shock on the first stage, steering heavy, arms aching! We started on the wrong tyres, dropped about 30 seconds. The stages were quite slippy. Still it was a valuable outing for the Roger Albert Clark.” Magherafelt man Marty went on to say that he is going to try a Mellors Motorsport Proton R5 this week, possibly to use on this coming weekend’s Ceredigion. His own Skoda R5 needs a shell after its tumble on the Ulster Rally.

Also last weekend the MG Car Club ran their Ulster Classic Trial through farmyards in Co. Down and David Cochrane/Ruth Steele in their MG Midget just pipped Will Corry/Adele Kennedy in a similar car for the win. Robert and Catherine Dickson were 3^rd in a Morris Cooper S.

This weekend coming on the two day Wexford Rally, James M Stafford in his Darrian heads a 90 plus strong entry. Local man Stafford should have strong opposition, with Gary Kiernan at 2 in his Escort, Mike Quinn, again driving a Subaru WRC at 3. Richard Moore starts at 4 in an Escort and the top six is rounded off by Stephen McCann and Andrew Purcell, both in Fiesta R5s. Tomas O’Rourke at 7, this time driving a Hyundai i20 R5, should go well. Lisburn’s Wesley Patterson, who has lots of Wexford experience over the years, starts at 8 in his Escort, Richard Moffett (Starlet) is at 9 and the top 10 is completed by Kevin Barrett in his Subaru Impreza WRC. The rally is a counting round of the South East Stages Championship as well as the Midlands East series.

Also this weekend, on the Saturday the new Three Shires closed road event takes place and then on Sunday it’s the turn of the new Aberystwyth University based Get Connected Rali Bae Ceredigion, the first closed road special stage rally in Wales. As well as a top class entry, the organisers are throwing the kitchen sink at the Welsh event in terms of press coverage. In the middle of all this is the Fermanagh Lakelands Rally, a counter in the Valvoline Forestry Championship as well as the McGrady Insurance NI series. Top seeds are :- (1) Sam Moffett/James Fulton (Fiesta R5):  (2)  Desi Henry/Damien Connolly (Fiesta WRC); (3) Vivian Hamill/Andrew Grennan (Fiesta R5): 4 Cathan McCourt/Barry McNulty (Fiesta R5): 5 Donagh Kelly/Conor Foley (Fabia R5): (6) Derek McGarrity/Paddy Robinson (Fiesta WRC): 7 Patrick O’Brien/Thomas Nugent (Lancer): 8 Kenny McKinstry/Kenny Hull (Fiesta R5): 9 Niall Henry/Damien Duffin (Citroen R5) & 10 Derek McGeehan/Mark McGeehan (Fiesta WRC). The latter crew, father and son team Derek and Mark McGeehan, currently lead the NI Championship points table, with Derek McGarrity and Stephen Wright chasing hard. Multiple former Champion McGarrity has had one ‘non score’ this season, as has Stephen Wright, so in a way this increases the pressure on McGeehan. Stephen is seeded down the order a bit; his Fiesta R5 allocated the number 17. Arthur Kierans will co-drive.

An interesting addition to the equation at the front is the addition of Desi Henry. He has only contested one round this season, the Maiden City Stages, which he won, so his Fiesta WRC should be right up with the leaders on this Saturday’s six stages through the woods. John Devlin currently leads the points in the two wheel drive section of the NI Championship. However John has been having a good run on some Tarmac series events outside Ireland with his Escort, and will miss the Lakeland. This leaves the door open somewhat for James Kennedy, Drew Stewart and Kyle White.

In the Valvoline series, Cathan McCourt has done enough to take the title for this year. There could be some excitement in the 2wd division, with pacesetter during the year David Crossen hoping to atone for a broken gearbox on the recent Cork event with a good performance here. Just some of the drivers who could make it hot for Crossen include David Condell, Adrian Hetherington, John Gordon and Paul McErlean, all in Escorts. Then there’s Shane McGirr, back in his pocket rocket Starlet. And of course there is Stanley Orr, who seems to forget he is driving a historic Mk1 Escort! We mentioned above that David Crossen leads the 2wd points. His nearest challenger is William Creighton, but his co-driver Liam Regan is driving his own rally car on the event, so William has not entered. There will still be plenty of action amongst the Junior drivers in the smaller category cars – just some include Derek Mackarel, Ruari Maguire, Kyle White, and several more.

Despite not running in the Lakeland Stages this weekend, William Creighton is the latest nominee for the Motorsport Ireland Young Rally Driver Award.

Wiliam Creighton – Latest nominee for Motorsport Ireland Young Rally Driver Award

News this week includes the decision announced by Ballynahinch MC that they will not run their Down Rally next year, in order to give the organising team a break. This is some indication of the stress and work involved in running a successful stage rally, especially on asphalt. It may also, although this denied, be an indicator that WRC Rally NI will happen at end of next summer. As matters stand at the moment, this is still far from definite – the FIA dates meeting has taken place, the opportunity is there, but in these uncertain political times, nailing down the complete package of relevant factors is not easy.

Events on the near horizon include WRC Turkey, the BRC Galloway Hills and the Clare Stages – all to take place over the weekend of 13^th/14^th 15^th September. Then on the weekend 21^st/22^nd September we have the Bushwhacker Rally and then on 28^th/29^th September the Cork ‘20’. Both these latter events have rather streamlined their formats compared to last year. In the Bushwhacker’s case it is rather a matter of needs must as there is harvesting taking place, while the Cork event sees it as a matter of making the event more competitor friendly. 

Further stories include Frank Kelly heading to Belgium the weekend after Wexford for the very special Mk2 Escort Rally, and after that on to the San Marino Rally in Italy. Jack Newman is also tipped to be heading to Belgium to compete, as is Paul & Karl Reid, and Richard Whelan.

17 year old Oliver Solberg and his NI co-driver Aaron Johnston achieved yet another milestone last weekend when they clinched the Latvian and Baltic Rally Championship by finishing 2^nd on the Estonian Louna-Eesti Rally.  Oliver missed out on winning the rally by just over 3 seconds, beaten by George Gross in a Fiesta WRC, 100hp stronger than Oliver’s VW Polo R5.

As expected Craig Breen and Paul Nagle will drive for Hyundai on the forthcoming Wales Rally GB.

 A few pics from last weekends very successful Donegal Deja Vu event.

Brian, Liz & Michael Patterson

Favourites romped to victory on both rallies that took place at the weekend which were of particular interest to us: in Germany it was Ott Tanak and on the Galway Summer Josh Moffett did the business. As ever the ADAC Rallye Deutschland provided high speed action over a variety of different types of asphalt stages through vineyards and over testing military stages. Ott Tanak in his Toyota Yaris WRC led initially then Thierry Neuville managed to get his Hyundai’s nose in front after stage 2, but by just 0.7 of a second. Tanak immediately retook the lead. These two battled it out through the rest of the Friday stages and most of the Saturday ones. This was a superbly close and intense battle, with Tanak only ever able to increase his lead to half a dozen seconds. Kris Meeke, Jari Matti Latvala and Dani Sordo all had lots of pace, but the front two competitors were on this occasion untouchable.

Ott Tanak makes it a hat-trick of victories on Rally Germany

Then on stage 13 Panzerplatte, the Neuville Hyundai collected a puncture. The Belgian driver Thierry and his co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul changed the punctured tyre in record time, not a whole lot over a minute, but still it knocked them out of the podium places. For the remainder of the rally, it was a formation performance really from the three Toyota drivers at the front. They safely held on to the finish, to make it a Yaris WRC wonder finish – Tanak 1^st, Meeke 2^nd and Latvala 3^rd. Thierry was fastest through the Power stage which brought bonus WRC points. Another small bonus for Thierry was that his Hyundai team mate Dani Sordo was able to take a road penalty and put himself down a place, which moved Thierry up one to 4^th. Still, that puncture put paid to the chance of a wonderful result.

Kris Meeke flying high on Rally Germany to take 2nd place.

For Tanak on the other hand, this win was seventh heaven: it made it a hat-trick of Rally Germany victories for the Estonian and must also increase his World Rally Championship chances enormously. It was typical Tanak that he just shrugged off brake problems with his car towards the finish of the rally. Tanak currently, with four rounds remaining, has 205 points, Neuville has 172 and Ogier 165. World Champion Ogier seemed to really struggle with the under-steering handling of his Citroen on this rally, his cause not helped by a puncture. At times during the event Ogier looked really distraught. He seemed to be driving his heart out, but just not cracking the times. No doubt the Frenchman could feel his chances of retaining his World Rally Crown slowly slipping away with every mediocre stage time.

Ogier’s fellow Citroen ‘pilote’ Esapekka Lappi also had a troubled rally. Still Lappi ended up one place ahead of Ogier, but sacrificed that by taking a road penalty to move Ogier up to 7^th. It wasn’t a great rally for the M-Sport Ford drivers either. Teemu Sunninen lost time early in the rally with a ‘technical’ problem on his Fiesta WRC, but at least there was the consolation of him setting some brilliant times in the latter part of the rally: right on the pace. Gus Greensmith was driving the other M-Sport Fiesta, and on only his second rally at this level he did very well indeed, but still a few seconds per stage off the pace of these best drivers in the world. Jan Kopecky had a very impressive run to win RC2 in his Skoda R5. Eric Camilli debuted the latest M-Sport Fiesta R5 and finished 2^nd in the ‘Pro’ R5 division, and that was despite some road penalties. Camilli was delighted with this latest Ford.

Here at home on the Galway Summer Stages, Josh Moffett’s supremacy was absolute. Josh and his co-driver Andy Hayes in their Fiesta WRC led from start to finish. Josh’s main task for the day was to collect sufficient points to clinch the Triton Showers National Championship. Josh admitted during this Galway event that he wasn’t just in full flow following his accident last week on the Ulster. As it transpired he wasn’t under any real pressure during the course of the 9 stage event. Certainly the one crew who could have pushed him for the title, Roy White/James O’Brien, retired their Fiesta WRC because of broken transmission after the opening stage. Moffett went on to win the rally by 37 seconds from Cathan McCourt/Grace O’Brien. They were also in a Fiesta. Ian Barrett/Paul McGee survived an early spin with their Subaru and went on to take 3^rd overall. Gary Kiernan/Ryan Moore scored a very meritorious 4^th overall and ‘best Escort’ tag to win ‘King of the Mark 2’ Award. Welsh visitor Hugh Hunter, with Rob Fagg co-driving in his Ford Focus WRC was 5^th and former multiple National Champion Niall Maguire, with James O’Reilly co-driving in his Subaru, was 6^th.

Josh Moffett & Andy Hayes clinch the Triton Showers National Rally Championship with victory in Galway. Photo Martin Walsh

Niall’s son Shane co-driven this time by Conor Foley was 8^th in his Mitsubishi Lancer. They won GpN on the rally and in the Triton Showers National Championship. 9^th o/a went to Frank Kelly/Sean Hayde. Frank found his Escort to be wanting in the grip department on the opening stage, and then he got stuck behind a stage 2 incident, so he was well back in the classification by first service. However Frank got into the groove and fought back well to get into the top 10 overall and 2^nd in class 14 by the Lady Gregory Hotel finish ramp. JF Shovelin/Emmet Brosnan also had a fine run to 10^th in their Escort and they reinforced their position in the Mk2 Escort Challenge.

Once again Gary McNamee/Brian Brady turned in a superb performance in their Civic to win their class, Tom Holton in his Mitsubishi won the class 20 and Ian Roche/Anthony Nestor won class 15 in their Subaru. David Armstrong/Podge Newe (Escort) won the Historic category and in the Juniors the Cavan/Roscommon duo of Jack Brunton/Daragh Kelly won class 16 and the 16A victors were the Kerry/Kilkenny combination of Colin O’Donoghue/Eddie Doherty (Ford Escort).

Some leading retirements, as well as Roy White, were James Stafford (Darrian) and Jonathan Pringle (Escort), Richard Whelan (Escort) as well as Kevin Eves (Toyota) on the final stage, having clipped a wall on an earlier stage. Eves is still the ‘top modified’ in the Triton points.

Looking forward to this weekend the interesting Ludlow based Eventssigns Woodpecker Rally takes place on Saturday. Top entries include Stephen Petch/Michael Wilkinson in their Fiesta WRC, Ollie Mellors/Ian Windress in one of the new Proton Iriz R5s and Charlie Payne/Carl Williamson in a Fiesta R5. Drivers making the trip from here include Sean Devine (Fiesta R5), Martin Cairns (Fiesta WRC), Paul Britton (Subaru Impreza N16) & Marty McCormack (Mk2 Escort).

Closer to home, some 150 cars, including many classics, will be on a tour through the classic stages in Donegal on the Déjà Vu adventure, which should bring lots of funds to go to the Donegal Hospice. Twelve former winners of the Donegal International will be taking part, many in ‘period’ cars.  Also this Friday evening, the MG Car Club (Ulster) is running its Night Trial in Co. Down, starting and finishing at Ballyblack Hall outside Newtownards. This week the ‘recce’ starts for the Wexford Volkswagen Stages Rally, with the main event the following weekend 7^th/8^th September. The event had attracted over 90 entries at the last count, more info next week. Documentation is at the Riverbank House Hotel in Wexford.

One small correction we must make is that the Dougie Hughes Memorial Clare Stages Rally (14^th/15^th September) is not having a shakedown stage. CoC Gerry O’Brien remarked when we were talking to him a couple of weeks ago that the event would be a good shakedown for Mull – and we took him up wrongly! So, just 9 very good stages in Clare and entries are building up. The rally is based at the Hotel Woodstock in Ennis and the main sponsors are M Fitzgibbon Contractors Ltd. as well as EMC Autos.

Regards, Brian, Michael & Liz Patterson

Galloway Hills 2019.

Below is a short sample video along with our usual stage data samples for the Galloway Hills Rally 2019. We have completed our pre event recce and the notes and video are ready for posting from Wednesday 4th September.

Galloway Hills Rally 2019 – Stage Data.

Galloway Sample 1080p

Notes & DVD are now available to order for despatch from 4th September. Telephone 028 90844111 or order online at RallyNews.net – Click Here

Wexford Rally 2019.

Below is a short sample video along with our usual stage data samples for the Three Shires Rally 2019. We have completed our pre event recce and the notes and video are ready for posting from Tuesday 27th August.

Wexford Rally 2019 – Stage Data.

Wexford Sample 2019

Notes & DVD are now available to order for despatch 27th August. Telephone 028 90844111 or order online at RallyNews.net – Click Here