GREER WINS WITH FLAIR ON AN UNBEATEN NI OUTING
Jonathan Greer strengthened his Northern Ireland points advantage with a second win in as many months, this time by over half a minute in his Citroen C3 Rally2 on the Bishopscourt round.
On the 5.4-mile opener, the 2021 winner was fastest by 7.1 seconds and, with a slick tyre option, extended the advantage to 21.2s on the repeat. He went on to add to the winning margin at every opportunity under Darragh Mullen’s guidance.
An early puncture and hitting tyres marking stage four wasn’t enough to stop Aaron McLaughlin and Darren Curran from taking second and narrowly missing out on an end-of-day stage win by 0.1s with their Ford Fiesta WRC. The Donegal-based driver said: “I just wish we had started the day as good as we finished it.”
In a Skoda Fabia R5, Derek McGarrity, no stranger to success at the circuit, had winning hopes dashed with a SS2 overshoot and a late misfire – but, with Graham Henderson, remains a title hopeful. In County Down though, he was 8.3s behind McLaughlin.
After hitting a bale Joseph McGonigle and Ciaran Geaney climbed from seventh to fourth by the finish in a
Rally2-spec Ford Fiesta, 21.5s from McGarrity but 48.1s ahead of Joe Hegarty, who had his own drama with an offtrack excursion. Fifth was the result for the R5 category challenger.
Michael McGarrity, son of third-placed Derek, had his best Bishopscourt result to date in sixth after being as far back as 14th in the morning and brake issues later. David Kelly was outside the top 30 on the opening stage and finished seventh ahead of Mark Massey in Fiesta R5. With time lost catching a car, plus from a spin and bodywork damage, Massey had an eventful day to finish ahead of an intercom issue-hit Emma McKinstry.
Results
Organiser: Ballynahinch and District Motor Club Ltd When: March 12 Where: Bishopscourt Race Circuit, County Down Starters: 72 Stages: Six
1 Jonathan Greer/Darragh Mullen (Citroen C3 Rally2) 41m02s; 2 Aaron McLaughlin/ Darren Curran (Ford Fiesta WRC) +31s; 3 Derek McGarrity/Graham Henderson
(Skoda Fabia R5 Evo); 4 Joseph McGonigle/ Ciaran Geaney (Ford Fiesta Rally2); 5 Joe Hegarty/Ashleen Hegarty (Ford Fiesta R5); 6 Michael McGarrity/Damien Garvey (Ford Fiesta R5+); 7 David Kelly/Dean O’Sullivan (Fiesta R5); 8 Mark Massey/Alistair Wylie (Fiesta R5); 9 Emma McKinstry/Kenny Hull (Fiesta R5); 10 Robert Erwin/Andrew Wilson (Toyota MR2). Class winners: Drew Wylie/ Stephen Jess (Ford Escort Mk2); Seamus Goodfellow/Joel McFarland (Honda Civic); Philip White/Brian Rowan (Nissan Micra); Gareth Deazley/Ashley Boulton (Ford Fiesta R200); Sam Adams/Michael Johnston (Escort Mk2); Erwin/Wilson; Alan Smyth/ Gary McCrudden (Escort Mk2); David Porter/Jordan Murphy (Subaru Impreza); Brian McFall/Ivor Lamont (Ford Fiesta); Greer/Mullen; McLaughlin/Curran.