The return of the king Loeb puts Irish experience to good use

.SEBASTIAN Loeb and Daniel Elena showed their mastery of tarmac rallying once again when they headed a clean sweep for the Citroen Total C4 team in Rally Ireland, this country's first ever round of the World Rally Championship. The route included parts of west Cavan, Leitrim and Fermanagh.

  As expected, the French driver, the World title holder for the last three years in a row, was able to cruise to victory once championship rival Marcus Gronholm of Finland went off the road on Friday, as his own teammate Dani Sordo was never likely to challenge his team leader for top place. Loeb's only worry on Sunday was when his engine refused to run properly while checking out of the early morning service, needing a quick change of electronic control unit by the team mechanics, which cost ten seconds lateness penalty.

  However, his lead over Sordo remained safe at close to a minute, which he held to the final stage at Mullaghmore, watched by huge crowds. With just the final round, Wales Rally GB, still to come, two weeks from now, Loeb's four point deficit in the points table has been turned into a six point lead, putting all the pressure on Gronholm if he is to take a third crown in his last event before retiring from rallying.

Delighted

  Loeb said after the finish “I am delighted to win in Rally Ireland, it leaves things much easier in Wales for me and the team. Once Marcus went out, I didn't have to take so many risks. The roads around Sligo were very different from Donegal and Cork earlier this year. Rally Ireland has made a good case to be in the World Championship again”.

  Third place, and a first ever podium position, went to 22 year old Finn Jari Matti Latvala in his Stobart Ford Focus, while Mikko Hirvonen was half a minute behind in the factory BP team version, running under strict team orders to finish the rally, which clinched the manufacturers' title for BP Ford for the second successive year.

  Dubliner Gareth MacHale, a regular in WRC rallies, was the top Irish driver, bringing his Ford Focus home in eighth place to score a World Championship point, a rare success for a private entry. On Saturday's rain soaked stages in West Tyrone and Fermanagh, he rapidly closed the gap to Matt Wilson's Stobart Focus, but the Englishman upped his pace and held on to seventh position to the finish.

MacHale's prominent

  Despite veteran Austin MacHale, the multiple Tarmac champion, losing time on Saturday when a suspension problem sent his Focus off the road, all three members of the family finished the rally, with his elder son Aaron, the current National title holder, in twelfth place while Austin was 25th.

  In the Group N class, former World Production champion Niall McShea from Enniskillen finally triumphed after a tremendous battle with Armindo Araujo which ended with the Portuguese driver crashing out in his efforts to retake the lead. Another Fermanagh driver, Richard Cathcart, co-driven by Martin Brady from Navan, took third place.

 RALLY IRELAND AT SLIGO (ROUND 15 OF FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP)

1 Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4 WRC) 3h 01m 39.2s, 2 Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Citroen C4 WRC) 3h 02m 32.6s, 3 Jari Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Ford Focus WRC) 3h 03m 27.4s, 4 Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Ford Focus WRC) 3h 03m 56.9s, 5 Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Subaru Impreza WRC) 3h 04m 35.0s, 6 Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Subaru Impreza WRC) 3h 07m 37.1s, 7 Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (Ford Focus WRC) 3h 11m 44.1s, 8 Gareth MacHale/Allan Harryman (Ford Focus WRC) 3h 12m 47.5s, 9 Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Ford Focus WRC) 3h 14m 47.4s, 10 Niall McShea/Marshall Clarke (Subaru Impreza Gp N) 3h 18m 11.3s, 11 Gabriel Pozzo/Daniel Stillo (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 3h 18m 55.4s, 12 Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy (Ford Focus WRC) 3h 19m 18.1s.

 Group N Production class:

  1 Niall McShea/Marshall Clarke, 2 Gabriel Pozzo/Daniel Stillo, 3 Richard Cathcart/Martin Brady (Subaru Impreza) 3h 20m 37.2s.

 Class winners:

  Kenneth McHale/Derek McCarthy (Toyota Yaris), Jarlath Barry/Kieran Carroll (Honda Civic), Adrian McElhinney/Gary McElhinney (Citroen C2), Toni Kelly/Gemma Price (Honda Civic).

Cavan Motor Club AGM

  Cavan Motor Club AGM takes place this (Wednesday) night 21st November in Hotel Kilmore at 8.30pm. Everybody welcome.