Motorsport Ireland weekend round up

Ireland’s TDC supported Autotest team took runner up position behind old rivals Northern Ireland, in the Ken Wharton Memorial International Autotest at Alcester, in Warwickshire, at the weekend, writes Richard Burke.

After seven long, demanding tests, totalling well over two thousand seconds, there was just 20 seconds between the two teams from this island, with England, Scotland and Wales trailing behind.

Kilkenny’s Ian White, making his debut in the event, was the star of the Irish team, finishing second in the individual competition behind English veteran Malcolm Livingston, with NI team leader Paul Blair next in line. Leitrim’s David Thompson finis hed fourth, taking a class win. This was Northern Ireland’s 36th win in the long history of the event, another new record.

20 year-old Navan driver Keith Donegan finished the final of the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch yesterday in second place, just one tenth of a second behind winner Joey Foster after battling his way through from sixth position on the grid. Earlier, Donegan also finished as runner up in his heat and third in his semi-final, giving him his best results of the year in this blue riband event of the FF1600 class.

At Mondello Park, defending Parts for Cars Irish National Rallycross Champion Derek Tohill kept his unbeaten record this year, winning the Super Final well ahead of Noel Greene.

The Kilkenny crew of Enda O’Brien and John Butler (pictured above) have recorded a resounding victory on the Garda Síochána Motor Club’s 2017 Germaines of Baltinglass Mini Stages Rally. They were outright fastest on four of the event’ s six stages in their Ford Escort RS, their final margin of victory extending to fifteen seconds.

Photo: Johnny Sweeney.