With a second successive Tarmac event to kick off their season, a bumper field of 12 crews took on the testing nine stage event based out of the West Kerry town, and it would be a tight battle in store right from the off.
In Class 2A, the leading pair from the opening round of the season, the Midland Stages Rally, were the quickest off the mark as Jack Kennedy led Darragh Kelly, the Ford Fiesta R2T of Kennedy opening an 18.7 second advantage over the Peugeot 208 R2 of Kelly by the end of Stage 4.
This would all change dramatically on the second running of the Minard Castle stage. Ross Ryan would bang in a fastest stage time to bring himself into the mix, while Kennedy would have a costly spin closing the gap to just 0.9 seconds.
After this moment though, the experience of the Wexford youngster, in his second season in Class 2A, really shone as he eaked out the advantage on the closing tests to claim a second successive victory, with 28.5 seconds to spare over Daragh Kelly and Ross Ryan a fine third.
Tommy Furlong had a difficult day with a mechanical issue in the afternoon, but he showed really strong stage times later in the day as he prepares for a return to the much more familiar gravel for the next round in May.
In Class 2, the battle seemed to be full of twists and turns right across the day, as each stage end brought with it a new tale from the twisting tarmac lanes of The Kingdom, with a trio of drivers claiming a stage victory across the day.
But in the end, it was a titanic battle for the win between the Ford Fiesta Rally4’s of Jack Harris and Ben McFall, both remarkably still only competing in only their second events in this class of car.
Leaving the final service halt at Munster Technological University, Harris held a healthy advantage at the head of the class, but McFall had different ideas and went on a remarkable charge.
Setting fastest stage times on the final trio of tests was remarkable, including a stunning attack over the closing 10km Flemingstown stage, but it was sadly not enough for the Bushmills youngster as he finished 2.3 seconds behind his Donegal rival Harris.
