In front of an enormous crowd of spectators, delighted to see rally action again after a year virtually wiped out by foot and mouth precautions, two of Ireland's top rally drivers ended the World Rally Masters event at Punchestown on Saturday sharing top place, with the Toyota Ireland Corolla of Rathcoole driver Austin McHale and reigning Toshiba Tarmac champion Andrew Nesbitt's Cuisine de France Subaru Impreza exactly equal after six runs through the stage of 2.5 miles which had been laid out around the racecourse's perimeter track.

These two were in a class of their own, dominating the event from the first run, when they shared best time to open out an immediate lead of three seconds over their nearest rivals, Tipperary driver Frank Meagher's Ford Focus and the Impreza of Derek McGarrity of Belfast.

On the second run, Nesbitt took the lead, one second faster than five times Tarmac champion McHale, while McGarrity also managed to gain a second on Meagher in their duel. Run three, the last one before the lunch break, again saw Nesbitt and McHale dead level, leaving the Armagh driver, who won the previous event at Punchestown two months earlier, with his one second lead at the half-distance point, while Meagher's efforts to stay in contention for third saw him hit a gatepost, which cost him eight seconds to McGarrity and dropped him behind Daniel Dohery's Impreza.

The direction of the stage was reversed in the afternoon, and McHale suddenly improved his time by three seconds to 2 minutes 38 seconds, giving him the lead, as Nesbitt could only equal his previous 2:41 best. Run five saw the two rivals both on 2:38, leaving the Dubliner still two seconds in front as they headed into the vital final assault on the course, and then, dramatically, the Subaru clipped off another second to 2:37, with the Toyota a second slower on 2: 39, leaving them tying for top position.

After a discussion with officials, it was agreed that there would be neither a tie-decider nor a "final shoot-out", and that the two would share the honours - a fitting end to a tremendous duel. Overshadowed by all this drama, Derek McGarrity unobtrusively held third place to the end, with Frank Meagher recovering to fourth ahead of Daniel Doherty and the Group N Impreza of Belgian Patrick Snijers.

In the class for rallycross cars, Dubliner Dermot Carnegie, three times the British champion, came out best in his Esso Ultron/Autoglaze Ford Focus, despite losing more than twenty seconds on his first run when he slid off the track.

The day's casualties included former national champion Peadar Hurson, whose Celica rolled on its second run, the Citroen Saxo of Dubliner Max McKillen, and Englishman Pat Doran, whose rallycrossing Ford RS200 went off on the second run.