MOTOR SPORT: GARETH MacHALE has yet to win a round of the Tarmac Rally Championship and this weekend could see that long overdue win when he heads up the Larsen Circuit of Ireland entry in a Ford Focus WRC.
MacHale faces strong competition from reigning champion and last year’s winner Eamonn Boland and triple winner Derek McGarrity, seeded number two and three, in Subaru WRC’s. Tim McNulty is seeded number four in another Subaru, whilst the very fast Eugene Donnelly is at number five in a Skoda Fabia WRC. Peadar Hurson (Subaru), Aaron MacHale (Focus), Kevin Barrett (Subaru) and Paddy White (Focus) are next in the seedings, and at number 10 is leading Group N driver Brendan Cumiskey (Dundalk) in a Mitsubishi Evo X.
Donnelly, on 16 points, leads the Tarmac Championship following his round one win in Galway, Gareth MacHale is second on 12 and Hurson third on 10 (the same score as Group N driver Séamus Flanagan).
The two-day event is a high-speed sprint over 140 miles. Run out of Dundalk, the eight Easter Saturday stages are all in south Down with central service in Banbridge. The six stages on Sunday are in south Armagh.
Subaru drivers Mel Evans and David Mann are the top seeds in the concurrently run National A Rally. The A1 GP Algarve in Portugal gets underway on Sunday. In the points standings reigning champions Switzerland, 73, now lead Ireland, 70; Portugal, 64; The Netherlands, 56; France, 41; New Zealand, 36; Malaysia, 32; Australia, 30; Monaco, 23; UK, 20.
Weekend fixtures: Easter Saturday – UAC, Larsen Circuit of Ireland, starts Dundalk, 7.40am. Easter Sunday – UAC, Larsen Circuit of Ireland, re-starts Dundalk, 8.15am; Munster CC, Forestry Championship Rally, starts Lismore, Co Waterford, 9.00am; Leinster MC, Motor Racing, Mondello Park, 11.30am.
