Sport

Elfyn Evans and Craig Parry dominate the Ulster Rally

ELFYN EVANS and co-driver Craig Parry dominated the John Mulholland Motors Ulster Rally, not only clinching the event on Saturday evening but also etching his name - the 38th - on the British Rally Championship trophy.

Welshman Evans who completed the 14 stages in a time of 2hours 11minutes 15.4 seconds, led 11 of the stages in his DMACK British Rally Team Fiesta R5 and was comfortably clear of Alastair Fisher from Ballinamallard, who was 1minutes 07.6 seconds behind Evans in his Fiesta.

At the rally finish, Evans said: “It’s been a really tough weekend with really difficult weather conditions. The stages were also very tricky but we’re really glad to be here having won both the Ulster and the Championship.”

The 27-year old’s success comes exactly 20 after his father Gwyndaf performed the same double winning the Ulster and the British title in 1996. A total of 133.86 competitive miles slipping and sliding through the challenging lanes of the North greeted the crews on Friday afternoon, heavy rain on both days making for greasy and treacherous conditions. This in turn made tyre choice a lottery with everyone second guessing which tyres might suit each stage.

Despite being beaten into second place, Fisher led the opening Friday stages until his Fiesta collected a puncture on stage 4, leaving him down in fifth place. As the Clonakilty Black Pudding Irish Tarmac Championship leader, the title was also on his mind, and Fisher, co-driven by Gordon Noble, hauled his way back up the leaderboard to finish a determined second and retain his championship lead, just two points ahead of Bantry’s Keith Cronin.

Belfast’s Jonny Greer drove superbly to finish third in his Pirelli-backed Citroën DS3 R5 keeping Cronin behind when he came under pressure from the former British Champion’s Citroën DS3 R5. Cronin was all set to take the runner-up position but the DGM Motorsport crew had change the gearbox at the last service halt, resulting in a time penalty and an ultimate fifth place behind Scotland’s David Bogie (Škoda Fabia R5). Although Bogie took a while to settle into the tricky conditions, his approach netted him his first BRC podium since the Circuit of Ireland Rally.

The advantage of local knowledge and experience on the tight and twisty roads certainly helped the Irish drivers, including Draperstown’s Marty McCormack (Škoda Fabia S2000) and Josh Moffett (Monaghan) in his Fiesta R5 with a broken exhaust, who finished sixth and seventh overall. Chesterfield’s Rhys Yates (Fiesta R5), Joe McGonigle (Škoda Fabia S2000) from Muff and Aberdovey’s Tom Cave (Fiesta) completed the top 10.

Esteemed road racer and 13 times TT winner, Michael Dunlop swopped two wheels for four, scoring a superb class win and finishing third overall in the National Rally in his Escort. However, Josh’s brother Sam didn’t have the same amount of luck in his Fiesta and he, Desi Henry (Portglenone) in his Škoda Fabia R5, Kesh’s Garry Jennings in the Mitsubishi Mirage and Monaghan’s Stephen Wright (Fiesta) succumbed to mechanical issues.

The final of the 2016 Clonakilty Black Pudding Irish Tarmac Championship is the Cork 20 Rally on October 1/2.