Donegal's David Kelly and his Killarney co-driver Shane Buckley, onboard their Skoda Fabia RS Rally 2, won the two-day Circuit of Ireland Rally in Dungannon by a mere half a second from the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 of Monaghan's Josh Moffett and his Wexford co-driver Andy Hayes.
Kelly also survived an appeal by Moffett against the result at the end of the 12-stage event, as the Monaghan driver claimed that he lost time as he slowed down to check on long time leader Callum Devine (Skoda Fabia) who slid off the road while leading stage 9 of round three of the NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Rally championship (ITRC)
Devine, the reigning ITRC title holder, lost four minutes due to his off before he got going again, handing the lead to Moffett as a result in the windy and rainy conditions on the second run over the Brantry Lough stage.
Devine would recover to finish in the points in eighth place as, up ahead, Moffett was involved in a titanic battle with Kelly over today's remaining three stages.
Kelly's Fabia moved into a 4.1 second lead on stage 10, the second run over Bockets Hill. He extended to this to 4.9 seconds over the penultimate stage Drummond Hill.
Moffett, the 2018 and 2022 ITRC winner, put in a huge charge over the final stage, the third and final traverse of Bockets Hill, but Kelly held on to win the rally by a slender 0.5 of a second.
The Skoda Fabia of the Kilkenny/Limerick pairing of Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy were 59.2 seconds further back and took the final place on the podium.
Moffett has now moved ahead of Devine on the championship standings ahead of round four, the Killarney Rally of the Lakes, which takes place over the May Bank holiday weekend.
