THE Moonraker Forest Rally, the second round of the Irish Forest Rally Championship, was hotly contested with the lead changing on three occasions before Cashel's Pat O'Connell and his Mitchelstown co-driver Mark Wiley took their Ford Fiesta R5 to a three-second victory.
Tyrone's Niall McCullagh/Ryan McCloskey (VW Polo GTi R5) were second and a mere 0.5 of a second ahead of Ballygawley's Vivian Hamill (Ford Fiesta Rally2) and his Wexford co-driver Gary Nolan. Clonakilty's David Guest and his Millstreet born co-driver Liam Moynihan onboard their new Ford Fiesta Rally2 were the top County Cork crew, finishing ninth overall and fifth in Class 5.
‘Today was about seat time and enjoying the experience,’ Guest explained.
‘I really enjoyed it, the car felt great and it was good to get the seat time. I will compete in next month's Mitchelstown based Tipperary Forest Rally.'
Meanwhile, Ballyvourney's Gerard Lucey (Ford Fiesta R5) and his Kilnamartyra co-driver JJ Cremin finished 21st. Lucey said: ‘We had a problem with the intercom system, it only worked intermittently on all three stages. We also had a bit of bother with the anti-lag.'
Elsewhere, US-domiciled Castletownbere driver Liam O'Sullivan and his Ballincollig-based cousin Brian Duggan took their Ford Fiesta Rally4 to fourth in Class 2 followed by Dunmanway's Conor McCarthy and his co-driver Derry Long, also in a Ford Fiesta Rally4. Ballyvourney co-driver Ciara Griffin and Laois driver Aaron Martley (Mitsubishi EvoIX) were fourth in Class 20.
