Tyrone crews get into gear for Midlands season opener

IT may have taken a month more than they would have hoped, but Tyrone crews finally got the Irish rallying season underway at the Midlands Stages Rally in Longford.

After Storm Eowyn forced the postponements of the Galway International, Donegal Forest and Fivemiletown rallies last month, competitors have been counting down the days ahead of the event.

And the wait proved worth it as Josh McErlean and Welshman Matt Edwards, driving for the Omagh-based C&M Motorsport Sales team in a new Hyundai Rally2 i20 N, went toe-to-toe over nine stages before crossing the finish line separated by just 0.5 of a second.

Edwards and stand-in co-driver Sion Williams came into the first service second overall, just 1.5 seconds behind Josh McErlean. Fastest times on stages four and five saw the Welsh pair move into the rally lead by 4.4 seconds before a storming time by their rival on stage six saw McErlean take a one second advantage into the final service.

Edwards and Williams went 2.5 seconds quicker on stage seven to retake the rally lead but after the penultimate stage they enjoyed just a 0.3 second advantage.

Then, on the final stage, McErlean went fastest to claim the rally victory by just 0.5 seconds!

“Absolutely mega first day aboard the Hyundai Motorsport C&M Motorsport Sales i20N Rally2 and to stay in touch with Josh McErlean for the duration in tricky conditions will definitely go down as one of the good days,” Edwards beamed afterwards.

“Myself and the fantastic last minute stand-in co-driver Sion Williams had a bit going on in the first stage let me tell you! Sion’s first stage in Rally2, and mine in that car was certainly a busy time, but keeping everything calm saw us through and in a respectable time that we just built on through the day.

“It was special to enjoy a rally as much as that again, and to experience such close competition at that level just adds icing to the cake; let alone giving us a lot of good info and experience ahead of [the first round of the] Irish Tarmac Rally Championship this coming weekend.

“Great to have the support of Hyundai Customer Racing immediately after the event also, giving us direction to improve in the areas we identified through the day, so all in all its an exciting start to the season.”

While McErlean claimed the win on this occasion, Edwards will be pleased with how well he got on during his debut in the new Hyundai machinery, which was also driven by his team-mate, Dromore’s Cathan McCourt, who finished seventh overall behind third placed Josh Moffett, Desi Henry, Eddie Doherty and Declan Boyle.

Cathan and co-driver Barry McNulty found themselves 10th overall going into first service with only 22 seconds separating them from third. A few set-up changes in service saw them set the third fastest time time on stage and move into seventh overall going into the final service. Cathan ended the day in the same position and within touching distance of the podium in a new car on his first tarmac rally since June 24.

Rounding out the top 10 were Sam Moffett, Michael Boyle and Daniel Cronin while the next Tyrone-based finisher was Drumquin’s Jason Dickson in 14th behind the wheel of his Rally2 Ford Fiesta, three places in front of the Volkswagen Polo of Clady’s Aidan Wray and Paddy McCrudden.

Galbally’s Barry Morris and Dylan Doonan were 21st and second in class in their Darrian T90 GTR, while Donaghmore’s Adrian Hetherington and Ronan O’Neill brought their Mk II Ford Escort home in 41st position, three places in front of Dromore’s Hugh McQuaid and Declan Casey who were third in class in their Escort.

Castlederg’s Darren McKelvey and co-driver Sean Topping were 48th in their Rally2 Ford Fiesta, while Damian Campbell and Declan McGarrity brought their Mk II Escort home in 69th and Ruairi and Martin McGarrity finished 90th and first in class in their Citroen DS3 R3.