Marty Toner and David Wright claimed a stunning victory at the Loughgall Stages Rally while Aaron McLaughlin and Darren Curran produced a stunning fightback with five stage wins, securing the 2025 NI Drivers Title.
Toner was smooth and fast in his Proton Satria to take the early lead at Loughgall. Championship leader Aaron McLaughlin made it through stage one but was 15 seconds off the pace with a sickly sounding Polo R5.
Toner continued to lead but Aaron McLaughlin charged back up the pack from 14th to 3rd. McLaughlin responded to a brief off-road excursion on Loughgall’s opener, setting Manor’s benchmark this time around.
McLaughlin and Curran made it two stage wins in a row to cut the gap to Marty Toner to 9.1 seconds. Damien Toner dropped down the pecking order after having reliability issues on Stage 2.
Elsewhere Jason Black and Karl Egan have blown off any cobwebs to lead two-wheel-drive and hold third overall on their first event in 10 months.
McLaughlin sets another fastest time on Stages 4 & 5 but Marty Toner maintained his overall lead with one stage to go.
Toner in the end did just enough despite another stage win from the newly crowned NI Rally Champions McLaughlin and Curran to win at Loughgall by just 1.9 seconds.
With McLaughlin and Curran taking second overall and the title, Jason Black and Karl Egan claimed the 2WD class win and third overall.
