Motor Sport: Austin McHale and Brian Murphy finished second in the Scottish Rally, two minutes 10 seconds behind winners Mark Higgins and Bryan Thomas.
The Irish crew continue to lead the British Rally Championship having scored one win and finishing second twice in the first three forest events.
As the series now moves to tarmac events, McHale is more confident of holding his lead. Early problems with the electrics cost McHale time as it hampered the paddle gear change and four-wheel-drive system of his Ford Focus WRC.
Mindful of this weekend's Donegal International, in the closing stages McHale opted to maintain station rather than indulging in heroics in what would have been a futile attempt to overtake Higgins.
Other Irish crews to feature were Rory Galligan/Greg Shinnors, fifth overall and Group N winners in a works Mitsubishi, and Brian O'Mahony/James Higgins, who brought their Ford Puma home seventh overall and also scored a class victory, despite punctures and brake problems.
Galligan was second after stage three and led the rally after Stage Five, but a puncture dropped him to fifth, a remarkable performance in a Group N car against the more powerful world rally cars.
His team-mate David Higgins, brother of the rally winner, crashed his works Mitsubishi. Gareth McHale, who was fifth after the first three stages, also rolled his Toyota Corolla WRC into retirement, his first DNF of the year.
RESULT: 1, M Higgins/B Thomas (Ford Focus WRC) 1h.14m. 18.9s; 2, A McHale/B Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.16.29.5; 3, S Ling/D Moynihan (Hyundai Accent WRC) 1.17.25.9; 4, B Johnson/S Merry (Subaru Impreza WRC) 1.17.49.3; 5, R Galligan/G Shinnors (Mitsubishi Lancer) 1.19.47.6 (1st Grp N); 6, R Gower/A Davies (Accent WRC) 1.23.35.6; 7, R Swann/K Bowman (Impreza) 1.23.39.4. (2nd Grp N); 8, B O'Mahony/J Higgins (Ford Puma) 1.23.43.1 (1st Super 1600).
* World champion Valentino Rossi said he was relieved his victory at the Catalan Grand Prix was greeted with cheers rather than boos by the record crowd at the Montmelo circuit in Barcelona yesterday.
The Italian was riding in front of the Spanish crowd for the first time since his overtaking manoeuvre on the last corner of the opening race of the season forced local hero Sete Gibernau off the track.
Given that Gibernau is from Barcelona and was leading until Rossi passed him with three laps to go, the Italian could have been forgiven for expecting a less than cordial response from the 105,698 people packed into the circuit.
"I was a little worried before this weekend about the reaction from the crowd but I was so happy with the reception I got," Rossi said.
