Pringle scores comfortable Imokilly win

Organiser: Imokilly Motor Club When: July17 Where: Midleton, East Cork Championships: Plasticbags.ie Southern Four Rally Championship Stages: 6 Starters: 86

Jonathan Pringle maintained his run of good form this season with victory on the Imokilly Mini Rally in Cork.

The Escort Mk2 pilot was pushed on by reigning Irish Tarmac Modified champion Declan Gallagher, with guest co-driver Shane O’mahony in the hot seat of his Starlet RWD.

Pringle had a few worrying moments during the day. At the first junction of stage three, a repeat of the opening Cloyne test, his Escort’s gearbox jammed momentarily and the car spun backwards into the scenery, albeit without significant consequences.

Although he lost little time, the exhaust was broken and stayed that way for the remainder of the stages. “We made a good start, pulled out a decent lead, so there was no need to go mad towards the end. I was surprised we didn’t drop time,” Pringle said afterwards.

Enda O’brien took third overall in his Escort Mk2, just 1.5s behind Gallagher and 5.5s ahead of Chris Armstrong and Chris Melly.