Driving his Citroen DS3, this weekend’s Toddsleap Ulster Rally NI saw Marty McCormack record the first ever victory for an R3 car in the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship and score the first win for a two-wheel-drive car since September 2000. McCormack from Draperstown and his co-driver David Moynihan from Mallow led the way from the first stage and, although they had to drive hard to maintain their position, remained in control throughout the event’s 14 stages to win by a substantial margin of one-minute 18 seconds.
Second place also went to a two-wheel-drive car, with the Irish pairing of Tommy Doyle and Liam Moynihan in their R3 Renault Clio posting such an impressive performance that Doyle was presented with the Pirelli Star Driver Award at the finish. After a challenging event, third place went to three-times winners this year David Bogie and Kevin Rae in their Mitsubishi Evolution IX and, in doing so, the two Scots extended their British Rally Championship lead.
Starting from Antrim Town Centre on Friday afternoon, the first leg of the rally took crews north for a loop of three stages before a service halt at the town’s Junction One retail complex. However, as crews crossed the start ramp, rain started to fall, which meant that the talk between the teams was that of tyres.
As it turned out, the first loop remained dry and McCormack and Doyle set the pace from the word go, topping the British Championship time sheets after SS1. However, by the time cars got back to Antrim after SS3, Carryduff’s Jonny Greer had moved up to second in his Skoda Fabia S2000.
Most unfortunate of the BRC runners in SS1 were Welshman Elfyn Evans in the Pirelli Star Driver Subaru Impreza and Finn Mikko Pajunen in his R2 Renault Twingo. Both clipped the same rock at the side of the road and punctured a rear tyre, forcing them to stop, change a wheel and lose over three minutes in the process.
Another potential front-runner to hit problems early on was Omagh’s Mark Donnelly, when his Renault Clio started to miss-fire during the opening stage. Although doing all they could to try to fix fault, his team were unable to trace the cause and it meant that Donnelly had no option but to do the best he could for the remainder of the rally, which eliminated any chance they had of mixing it at the head of the R3 field.
However, not to be outdone, Evens went on to set fastest times on the remaining two stages before service. In contrast, Renault Clio driver Peter Taylor was the first to exit the chase when a problem with his car’s transmission forced him out of the rally after the third stage, making the Carlisle driver the first of the BRC retirements.
The following stages were a repeat of the first three, but this time the weather spiced things up when the mainly slick-shod competitors arrived at the start of SS4 to find it raining. Predictably, crews aired on the side of caution as they tried to find grip and it was McCormack who triumphed again, with Evans repeating his performance on the following two stages, which had remained mostly dry.
Of all the front-runners, it was Greer who was hampered the most during this loop, when his car’s rear differential stopped working and he had to complete SS6 in two-wheel-drive only – not the ideal configuration for an S2000 Skoda. Therefore, when cars returned to Antrim for the overnight halt, the time sheets showed McCormac ahead by 32.2 seconds ahead of Doyle and then Bogie just 7.6 seconds behind in third. Callum Black in his Suzuki Swift had managed to keep out of trouble and was up to fourth, whilst Greer was now in fifth.
With the day dawning dry and bright, tyre choice was not to be an issue on Saturday. However, that didn’t stop the first of the day’s eight stages being extremely slippery, with sections of the road covered in mud and gravel. Unfortunately for Black, SS7 was to be his last when he stopped half-way through the stage, which meant that, as cars pulled in for the first service halt of the day after SS8, Greer was in fourth with Evans, who had incredibly made his way through the field, now in fifth.
For the remaining six stages of the rally, the leading five positions didn’t change, although most had to deal with a variety of problems as the day progressed: Bogie found his car handing strangely in Saturday’s first two stages, so much so, he spun on both of them, his service crew later finding the cause to be a damaged rubber bush in a rear suspension arm. Added to this, a heavy landing after a jump on SS8 had also served to cause concern.
It was then Evans’ turn to have problems when, during the next loop of two stages, his car started to lose power due to a turbo issue. But once the offending item was changed, he continued to set a blistering pace. There was a worrying moment for McCormack, when he felt his Citroen’s engine start to hesitate, the fault thought to be electrical. However, it had little effect on his performance and, he went on to extend his advantage.
Behind the leaders, a battle raged for R2 category honours between Finn Jussi Kumpumaki in a Fiesta and Omagh’s Dessi Henry in a Citroen C2. Eventually, the tussle was resolved in favour of Kumpumaki when Henry went off the road in SS10.
A similar fate befell local driver Alan Carmichael from Ballymoney, who was debuting his brand new Mitsubishi Evo X. Having had concerns about his brakes from the word go, his suspicions were confirmed on SS12, when he planted his car firmly in a hedge.
Retiring in far more spectacular fashion on the same stage were Alex Laffey and co-driver Chris Williams, when they were caught out by a bump on a fast section and launched their Fiesta into a series of horrifying end-over-end rolls through the trees next to the road. Although their car was severely damaged and both of them were taken to hospital, thankfully the worst injury was a broken collar bone sustained by Williams, who later thanked the rescue and medical teams for their work.
With his Subaru now running perfectly, Evans went on to win the final two stages, which brought his tally of fastest times to nine out of the event’s 14. However, it was McCormack’s day and still pushing hard right to the end, his stunning drive was rewarded with the result he was looking for: his first ever British Rally Championship victory.
Doyle had also delivered a masterful performance to make it a two-wheel-drive one-two, a result which bodes well for next year when the Championship becomes exclusive to R1, R2 and R3 cars only and four-wheel-drive vehicles will be ineligible to score points.
Bogie was relieved to get to the finish and claim the final spot on the podium, his third place increasing his lead in the drivers’ points table. Greer was fourth and pleased with his pace, although he could not help thinking that the outcome may have been better if it wasn’t for transmission troubles on Friday night. The same frustration – in fact more so – was felt by Evans in fifth, who’s pace was such that, without his SS1 puncture, a second BRC victory may well have been on the cards.
In the other categories: Autosport Technology increased their lead in the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Teams’ Championship, its two R2 Renault Twingos of Mikko Pajunen and team mate Siim Plangi from Estonia collectively amassing the highest amount of points. The M-Sport Ford Rally Team of Jussi Kumpumaki and Osian Pryce were next highest scorers, whilst the only points-scorer for Team C2R2 Max was Joe McGonigle, following Desi Henry’s retirement. 586 Sports unfortunately failed to gain points, as Callum Black was the team’s only representative on this event.
The Fiesta Sport Trophy was won by Kumpumaki, with Pryce second. Kit Leigh was third and did well to get his Ford back to the finish after bending the rear beam during Saturday’s opening stage.
The sixth round of the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship sees the UK’s premier series revert back to a gravel surface for the Scarborough-based International Rally Yorkshire, which takes place on 23rd & 24th September.
To view photos from the fifth round of the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship, visit: www.rallybrc.co.uk/media/gallery.html.
For more information on the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship visit www.rallybrc.co.uk.
Overall Classification:
01) Martin McCormack/David Moynihan (Citroën DS3 R3) – 01h 51m 44.3s
02) David Bogie/Kevin Rae (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 01m 36.8s
03) Jonathan Greer/Dai Roberts (Skoda Fabia S2000) + 01m 42.4s
04) Elfyn Evans/Andrew Edwards (Subaru Impreza R4) + 01m 48.0s
05) Mark Donnelly/Barry McNulty (Renault Clio R3) + 06m 01.3s
06) Jussi Kumpumaki/Mikael Korhonen (Ford Fiesta R2) + 06m 24.6s
07) Mikko Pajunen/Jani Salo (Renault Twingo R2) + 08m 20.8s
08) Joseph McGonigle/Niall Burns (Citroën C2R2 Max R2) + 08m 45.1s
09) Siim Plangi/Marek Sarapuu (Renault Twingo R2) + 09m 53.3s
10) Osian Pryce/Iestyn Williams (Ford Fiesta R2) + 11m 50.7s
