The Seven Oaks Hotel Carlow Rally, the third round of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship provided Donegal’s Manus Kelly and co-driver Donal Barrett with a Subaru WRC debut win.
They finished the nine stages 10.7 seconds ahead of the Ford Fiesta WRC of Clonmel’s Roy White and his Cork co-driver James O’Brien, who have extended their lead in the Triton series.
Longford’s Tommy Doyle - another Subaru WRC debutant and co-driven by Cork’s Liam Moynihan - were 21.8 seconds further behind in third. The Group N category was won by Aidan Wray/Kieran McGrath (Mitsubishi).
Kelly led all through – one the opening stage he was nine-tenths of a second ahead of Peadar Hurson (Subaru WRC) with Escort driver Frank Kelly eight tenths of a second further behind in third. Hurson was quickest through the second stage but Kelly retained the lead. The third stage was cancelled due to heavy fog.
On the repeat loop Kelly, fastest on SS4 and equal fastest on SS6, extended his advantage to 9.1 seconds with Roy White (Fiesta WRC) moving into second spot – 11 seconds ahead of Hurson, who admitted that he had chosen the wrong tyres for the loop. After setting the best time through SS5, Tommy Doyle in fourth spot lost around twenty seconds with two overshoots on Stage 6.
The battle for supremacy continued and on SS7, White punched in the best time to cut the deficit to 6.8 seconds. However, Kelly added a tenth of a second on the penultimate stage and was quickest on the final stage to secure victory.
White took maximum points in the Triton Showers series including the three points from the Power Stage to extend his lead as the series. Doyle took a deserved third.
There was drama on the penultimate stage for Hurson, his Subaru hit a wall and the car caught fire and Patterson crashed on the same stage. The Mk 2 Ford Escort Challenge was won by Jonny Pringle.
