Sensational finale seals victory for Fisher and Noble

ALASTAIR Fisher and Gordon Noble produced a sensational final four stages to claim a stunning victory in the 2022 Circuit of Ireland Rally at the weekend.

The Ballinamallard man and his Omagh co-driver started Saturday 35 seconds adrift of overnight leader, Desi Henry but when the Portglenone man was forced to retire on day two, Fisher and Noble pounced.

With another of the leaders, Callum Devine also suffering issues on Saturday, it was left to the all-conquering Josh Moffett, who had won every event he’d started in 2022, to battle it out with Fisher.

But the Monaghan man had no answer to what Fisher and Noble delivered over the final four stages when they blew everyone else out of the water with a series of blistering fastest times, including over the final run over Cairncastle which they started around less than a second adrift of the leaders, but finished as rally winners by 11.8 seconds!

“We just went for it,” exclaimed an emotional Fisher. “It’s unbelievable but it turned out well.

“It was like a completely new event for me on Saturday, everything just clicked.

“The last stage made the difference. We had really good notes for it and it’s a racey sort of stage, so it worked out well!”

Having missed out on nearly two years of rallying after his Galway International triumph at the start of 2020, Fisher had hoped to hit the ground running in 2022. However, a certain amount of rustiness and the devastating pace of his rivals has meant it’s taken him time to find his feet behind the wheel at Galway and in Cork but he certainly feels back in the groove now.

“I was frustrated after the first couple of events because I knew deep down I wasn’t driving well and I wasn’t making the most of everything,” he explained.

“It was a matter of getting it unlocked and getting back to where I want to be. Maybe I put a bit too much pressure on myself to be back there immediately, but that comes from the competitiveness and sometimes you have to be a bit more realistic and realise at that level it might take more time.

“But we’re delighted and even if we hadn’t got the win, we were delighted with our pace.”

Saturday’s win puts Fisher into second position in the Acesigns Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, 13 points behind Moffett. Devine finished, despite his car’s glitches, to move into fourth in the championship.

And Fisher believes his victory couldn’t have come at a better time to reignite his Championship tilt against Moffett, who had looked as though he might run away with things after winning the opening two rounds.

“The win is massive for the Championship because we’re into the third round now so we had to start pushing on now,” he added.

“It’s the best five out of seven count, so it was definitely an important one to win and hopefully it swings things a bit!”

Fisher and Noble weren’t the only local crews in action over the weekend.

Dromore’s Cathan McCourt and co-driver, Liam Moynihan had been in top five contention before a mechanical issue on the final stage put paid to their efforts, and Dunamanagh’s Sean Devine suffered the same fate on stage seven.

The next best local finisher was Victoria Bridge’s Jason Mitchell and co-driver Paddy McCrudden, who enjoyed plenty of spectacular ‘air time’ during the thrilling event before finishing a superb seventh overall in their Rally2 Ford Fiesta.

Strabane’s Ryan Caldwell was next, after he once again produced a performance beyond his young years to claim another Rally4 win alongside Grace O’Brien. The Circuit of Ireland was Caldwell’s second top-scoring finish in ITRC 3.

Drumquin’s Jason Dickson had held the overnight advantage in the hard-charging front-wheel-drive category. He was the master of Orra Lodge taking over 40 seconds out of his rivals over its three passes on Friday. His affinity with the renowned stage came to an end on Saturday, however, when he joined a host of drivers to slide off the twisting glen-side pass. Dickson’s damage was minimal but stuck in a ditch, he was unable to get the car out.

Dungannon’s Mark Stewart and co-driver Chris Hobson were next in 35th position in his Mazda MX5, one place in front of Newmills’ Richard Somerville and John Nicholl in their Ford Escort. Stewart also finished second in class N4, while Somerville was fifth in class N6.

Ardboe’s Kevin Quinn and co-driver, Chris Corr, on their Circuit debut together in their Ford Escort came home 44th overall, while Donemana’s Paul Britton and Liam McIntyre were 49th overall and first in class N8 in their Subaru Impreza.