A polished drive in tricky conditions handed Cathan McCourt a first Down Rally victory on Saturday, whilst Jonathan Greer played it safe to seal a third straight Northern Ireland Championship title.
Not registering for the series meant that McCourt & Brian Hoy could run a bigger turbo restrictor on his Ford Fiesta Rally2 car and the extra grunt paid dividends as he finished top of the pile by 46.3 seconds.
Across the opening three stages, English visitor Callum Black gave chase – but when he lost his car under braking on a greasy square right it immediately eased the pressure on an in-form McCourt.
Despite being demoted by the misfiring Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 of Jason Mitchell on the deciding stage, fourth was all Greer required to successfully defend his drivers’ title on his home round of the Championship.
Richard Moffett & Martin Connolly claimed top honours in the modified section and 13th overall while Stephen Whitford & Jonny Hart won the Nissan Micra Challenge and 42nd overall respectively.
