Patrick O’Brien makes a successful return from Australia, defending his Lakeland Stages Rally title with Stephen O’Brien.
In form Cathan McCourt got off the mark in the Lakeland Stages Rally’s opener with a blistering fastest time. There was nothing in it though with one second covering the top four and 11.5 seconds splitting the top ten.
After the top crews beat stage two’s bogey time, Patrick O’Brien grabbed his first stage win of the day on stage three to jump ahead of early leader Cathan McCourt.
By the halfway point Cathan McCourt bounces back on Carrigan to take 1.8 seconds out of Patrick O’Brien’s lead. Gareth Mimnagh was up into third after Vivian Hamill goes off on stage four.
At the final stage tough, the O’Briens held their nerves to claim the win by over five seconds Cathan McCourt and Barry McNulty who were unable to match the Skoda duo through Ballintempo and had to settle for second.
Kevin Eves set in a blistering stage time on the final run to snatch third on Gareth Mimnagh.
Father and son duo Jordan and Paul Hone clinched maximum points on the opening round of the Brown & Brown NI Forest Rally Challenge.
They climbed up the Lakeland Stages Rally leaderboard through the day, finishing ahead of fellow Fiesta pilots and Brown & Brown rivals Stephen Dickson and Derek Mackarel.
