Aidan Wray won the PRM & RPM Motorsport Loughgall Stages Rally by 6.4 seconds in a Volkswagen Polo Rally2 – outperforming a narrow second-place finish last year – after early leader, Marty Toner was side-lined with an electrical fault, writes William Neill.
Under Peter Ward’s guidance, it was the Pirelli-shod IN Sport driver’s first overall win after a measured start, fifth fastest on the opening 3.1-mile Manor test within the spectator-friendly country park.
Onto the first pass of the 5.9-mile Kinnegoe closed road stage and the Strabane driver moved up three places thanks to a joint fastest time with Eddie Doherty and Tom Murphy who, on their first visit to the County Armagh village, were in testing mode for the upcoming Stonethrowers in Tipperary.
Wray was faster on the repeated loop, 2.2 seconds gained on the Manor test and another 0.2 seconds on Kinnegoe to leave a gap of just half a second before the park stage was reversed. And it was that change where Wray seen the opportunity to pull ahead, 3.8 seconds quicker on the stage to leave a 3.3 seconds advantage with two stages to go.
Doherty took 0.2 seconds back on the unaltered Kinnegoe but Wray was the winner of both the rally and the final stage, again over three seconds quicker than the Skoda Fabia Rally2.
Two-time winner Aaron McLaughlin returned to a Ford Fiesta R5 – the newer-spec Volkswagen Polo Rally2 option not ready following the three-day Donegal International. While the Carndonagh driver and Darren Curran were 51.8 seconds down on Doherty’s pace they secured the final podium spot by 41.6 seconds and took a SS5 win along the way.
Fourth and fastest two-wheel-drive Jason Black was delighted following his home rally result with Karl Egan, ahead of Jason Mitchell who fought back from a costly SS1 spin that seen the second IN Sport car beached for over a minute. In the comeback drive of the rally from 77th to fifth, along with Paddy McCrudden, the position was improved by 32 places on SS2 alone.
Jason’s brother, Gareth Black and Connor Dunlop, in another Toyota Starlet, put last year’s differential-based retirement aside to finish sixth, 6.1 seconds from Mitchell but ahead of category rival and first of the Ford Escort Mk2 runners, John Bradley by 5.3 seconds.
Loughalll newcomer Colin Price was as far back as 12th in a Toyota Starlet before he headed back to Ballymena in eighth, 21 seconds ahead of former event winner Camillus Bradley with John Gordon rounding out the top ten ahead of Joe Hegarty – all Escort runners.
CLASS WINNERS
Class 1: Trevor Wilson/Paul Mulholland (Ford Escort Mk2)
Class 2: Anthony Quinn/Ryan McAleer (Ford Fiesta ST)
Class 3: Andrew Frizzell/James Hedge (Vauxhall Nova)
Class 4: Chris Murphy/Shea Breen (Ford Escort Mk2)
Class 5: Jonathan Strain/Kyle Diffin (Peugeot 205)
Class 6: Gareth Black/Connor Dunlop (Toyota Starlet)
Class 7: Jason Black/Karl Egan (Toyota Starlet)
Class 8: Albert McClenahan/Alexander Preston (Ford Sierra Cosworth)
Class 9: Richard O’Lone/James Turkington (Ford Fiesta Rally3)
Class 10: Aidan Wray/Peter Ward (Volkswagen Polo Rally2)
Class 11: Aaron McLaughlin/Darren Curran (Ford Fiesta Rally2)
RESULTS
1 Aidan Wray/Peter Ward (Volkswagen Polo Rally2) 33m38.8s
2 Eddie Doherty/Tom Murphy (Skoda Fabia Rally2) +6.4s
3 Aaron McLaughlin/Darren Curran (Ford Fiesta R5) +58.2s
4 Jason Black/Karl Egan (Toyota Starlet) +1m39.8s
5 Jason Mitchell/Paddy McCrudden (Volkswagen Polo Rally2) +2m19.5s
6 Gareth Black/Connor Dunlop (Toyota Starlet) +2m25.6s
7 John Bradley/Ryan Crozier (Ford Escort Mk2) +2m30.9s
8 Colin Price/Damian Doherty (Toyota Starlet) +2m34.5s
9 Camillus Bradley/Crawford Henderson (Ford Escort Mk2) +2m55.5s
10 John Gordon/Conor Lavery (Ford Escort Mk2) + 3m09.9s
Words and Photos: WILLIAM NEILL/neillpics.com [Images must not be used in any way without prior written consent of the photographer]
