Belfast's John Gilleece and co-driver, Michael Gibson (Escort cosworth,) won a closely contested Springhill Court Hotel Carlow rally and duly extended their lead in the Red Mills RAIC National Rally championship.
At the end of the nine stages, they were eight seconds clear of Welsh crew, Gwyndas Evans/Garret Lloyd (BMW). Third placed crew Ray Breen/John Purcell, completed their final outing in the Metro 6R4. Gilleece now leads the National series by 10 points, one of his rivals Michael Barravle was not among the 130 starters, his Toyota Celica was not ready in time.
Waterford's PJ McGrath was fastest through the first stage at Nurney. He went into an early two second lead over John Gilleece, with Ray Breen occupying third and John McCluskey, despite a slipping clutch, held fourth. Welsh visitor, Gwyndas Evans spun his BMW and lost valuable time and Tommy Graham (escort Cosworth) had a massive overshoot - along with Declan Wilmott (Metro) - they posted a time of eight minutes and five seconds.
McGrath's tenure at the top was somewhat short lived, he made his exit from the rally on special stage three with a damaged radiator. Gilleece went into the lead and maintained the position all through although he had to drive hard to fend off a superb challenge from Evans.
The Welshman, went into second place at the start of the final stages around Nurney, Taylors Cross and Ballintemple, but his first stage indiscretion proved to be his downfall. With Evans not registering for the national series, Breen took the 18 points for second. Elsewhere, Derek Smith (Escort) capitalised on the misfortunes of Declan Wilmot and John McCluskey to finish fourth. Tommy Graham's fine drive was negatated by a number of penalties. The Mitsubishi of Robert Woodside took the laurels in group N.
Details: 1, J Gilleece/M Gibson Escort cosworth 1h 08 mins 20 secs; 2, G Evans/G Lloyd BMW 1h 08m 28s; 3, R Breen /J Purcell (Metro 6R4) 1h 08m 46s; 4, D Smith/D Cafferky (Ford escort) 1h 10m 54s; 5, M MCQuaid/V Fields (Ford Escort) 1h 11m 58s; 6, M MCArdle/ P McCann (Opel Manta) 1h 13m 14s; 7, R Woodside/A Harryman (Mitsubishi) 1h 13m 38s; 8, D Wilmot/ J Casey (Metro 6R4) 1h 14m 14s; 9, P and K Norris (Subaru) 1h 14m 18s; 10, J and A Foley (Honda) 1h 14m 38s.
Scotland's Dario Franchitti failed to capitalise on his pole position in the Rio 400 at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil yesterday, crashing out on the 89th lap as Canadian Greg Moore triumphed.
The Scot, who used a different fuel strategy to most of the drivers, was in front for a brief spell, but then came the accident which handed the lead to Italian Alex Zanardi.
"What can I say?" Franchitti said. "We had to come in a few laps early because of the car."
Moore was soon on Zanardi's tail and the two, both at the edge of their fuel limits, began playing a cat-and-mouse game, with Moore using the lapped cars to try to get ahead.
The strategy finally succeeded in the 128th lap, with Moore getting the better of Zanardi, who finished 0.427secs behind.
"I knew we had a good shot. Alex was good, but we're quicker," said Moore. "What a great way to leave Brazil."
The win - the third of Moore's career - widens his lead over Zanardi in the championship from one point to four.
"I think today I had the best car and the team produced the best car. I drove beautifully, but lost the race," said Zanardi.
