BREEN TAKES THE SPOILS ON ULSTER RALLY
HYUNDAI MAN WRAPS UP IRISH TARMAC TITLE TOO
It was business as usual for Craig Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle on their return to the Irish Tarmac Championship, on this occasion in a Melvyn Evans-prepared Hyundai i20 R5, and duly won the Ulster Rally and in the process clinched the Irish
Tarmac Rally Championship.
They delivered a fine victory by finishing 20.5 seconds ahead of the Ford Fiesta R5 of defending British champion Matt Edwards (Fiesta R5), who was co-driven by Patrick Walsh. Derry’s Callum Devine and his Enniskillen co-driver Brian Hoy, also in a Fiesta R5, were 21.4 seconds further behind in third after the late demise of Tom Cave/dale Bowen (Hyundai i20 R5).
On a somewhat greasy opening stage, the Breen express stopped the clocks a tenth of a second better than everyone else. Edwards was next with Devine, one of the stars of the ITRC season and a title rival for Breen, 5.5s further behind. Another ITRC hopeful, Alastair Fisher lost time when he hit a gatepost very close to the stage finish and found himself 14.8s off top spot.
Breen was quickest through the second test and BRC runner Marty Mccormack (Skoda Fabia R5) had the honour on SS3, which was temporarily blocked when outgoing Tarmac champion Josh Moffett flipped his Fiesta R5 into retirement. Out in front, Breen’s lead over Edwards was 2.4s and, while the latter wasn’t registered for the ITRC, it was difficult to see Breen settle for second best on the event. He expressed a view that there was something wrong with the steering or a cross member, but a subsequent check revealed
his Hyundai was perfect. Devine lost third via a trip up a bank but he was only a fraction of a second behind Cave.
There was a truncated arrival at the Newry service with the top five seeds finishing their service well before those running after Moffett arrived, however, the organisers subsequently brought the event back in the correct sequence.
Out on the repeat loop it was more of the same for Breen as he extended his advantage over Edwards to 6.7s, meanwhile, Cave had an overshoot and lost around 15 seconds. Devine, still second in the ITRC leaderboard, was also in trouble with a fuel pressure problem on SS5 and 6 as Fisher dropped time with a misfire through most of the fifth stage.
Breen delivered the victory and the Tarmac title with another splendid drive. Having won the first four rounds in a Fiesta R5 and Ulster in a Hyundai he became the first driver to win the series in two different makes of cars since 1992 when the late Bertie Fisher won the Tarmac crown in a Ford Sierra Cosworth and a Subaru Legacy.
Cave looked set to finish third overall behind his BRC rival Edwards but came to grief on the penultimate stage when his Hyundai hit a wall instantly promoting Devine to third. Meirion Evans (Skoda Fabia R5) took fourth overall and third in ITRC after Fisher lost further time with a puncture on SS8. Sixth-placed Daniel Cronin (Fiesta R5) had a brief excursion on the opening stage that brought some discomfort as it reaggravated an old neck injury and he spun on SS6 before finishing as the fifth ITRC runner.
In Group N, Willie Mavitty (Mitsubishi) look set to claim the spoils until the rear differential blew on the penultimate stage and Andy Davies (Subaru) pounced to set up a category decider on the final round in Cork at the end of September.
At the finish, newly-crowned champion Breen said: “Irish rallying has given me more than it will ever understand, far more than anything in a sporting sense. Irish Tarmac champion – I grew up watching this [the Irish Tarmac Championship] on television for years. If I could catch myself as a five-year-old now and tell myself it was going to happen, I don’t think I could believe it. It’s an amazing feeling.”