Josh Moffett savoured a “very special” first Modern Tyres Ulster Rally victory as he finally ended his long wait for success on the 50th anniversary edition of the closed-road event.
Moffett was made to dig deep for his third maximum score of the current campaign, with Ulster Rally debutant Doherty taking the field by surprise.
Doherty went quickest on five of these to reach the overnight halt out in front by 6.8 seconds despite reporting earlier turbo-related issues.
With Saturday’s terrain better suited to Moffett’s patched up car, he quickly reduced the deficit to 2.1 seconds after the morning loop’s first run.
It set up a tense final loop in the mid Antrim area with Moffett and co-driver Andy Hayes eventually prevailing despite the arrival of rain threatening to mix up the order once again.
Moffett found an extra gear on the penultimate test to leapfrog the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 of long-time leader Eddie Doherty before going on to make the win safe by three seconds.
It now puts him firmly in the box seat to go and wrap up a third Irish Tarmac Championship drivers’ crown with only the Cork ’20′ International Rally to run on September 26th and 27th.
Cathan McCourt survived a bent steering arm and damaged wheel on the Friday, and a huge high-speed moment on the Saturday to claim the final step on the podium ahead of Jonathan Greer (Toyota) in fourth and Jerseyman Sam Touzel (Skoda) in a very solid fifth.
In the Modified battle, Jason Black and Karl Egan led from start to finish aboard their rear-wheel-drive Toyota Starlet to secure the spoils from Paddy McToal and Connor O’Loan.
