OUR THREE STAND OUT MOMENTS
1. The beauty of rallying returning to Northern Ireland Rallying provides many sights and sounds and after 15-months of going without it was heightened at Bishopscourt for the select few lucky enough to attend. Historic winners Drew Wylie and Stephen McAuley are pictured heading through the daisy-covered concrete section. Used only by the rally, with the majority of Bishopscourt’s calendar on the main circuit, the organising club usually spray weed killer but didn’t this time around. We think they should stick to that.
2. Close action with two laps and 30-second intervals Circuit-based rallying is very different to the forests and closed-road stages. Here we were able to watch cars chase each other down – not only on the time sheets but across the six stages themselves. Of course this can be a frustrating experience for competitors if they get held up but it is part of what is to be expected under the format. Monaghan team Arthur Kierans and Conor Maguire crossed the Irish border and are followed here by Conor Gillespie and Ethan McColgan in another Escort Mk2. Gillespie finished fourth in class five with Kierans seventh in a 23-car class six.
3. Hold the honeymoon, I’m going rallying Just two days Olivia Coulter got married to Jonny Chambers, but there was no rushing off on honeymoon. Co-driving for Adrian Grant the result was fifth in class and 37th overall. Coulter began co-driving for her father, Robert in an Anglia before acquiring her own and winning her class in the Northern Ireland Sprint Championship two years on the trot.