Yorkshire: O'Mahony and Higgins event summary

O'Mahony and Higgins get top 10 finish on International Rally Yorkshire

Irish crew Brian O'Mahony and John Higgins had an impressive first outing on the International Rally Yorkshire on Saturday (27 September) as they finished ninth overall.

County Cork driver O'Mahony and County Mayo co-driver Higgins made a positive return to the gravel as they came home ninth and won class R3 in their OM Concrete Products and MIS-backed Super 1600 Renault Clio in round five of the British Rally Championship (BRC).

The pair actually finished 10th overall and the rally's results remain provisional pending an appeal after winners Guy Wilks and David Moynihan in the works Mitsubishi were excluded following a post event protest over a technical infringement.

O'Mahony and Higgins, who had never contested the International Rally Yorkshire before, did not, however, have the smoothest of runs on the 110-mile North Yorkshire-based event.

On the first stage they lost a considerable amount of time after they were first on the scene of fellow Irishmen Daniel Barry and Martin Brady's accident and they stopped to help the crew out of the car.

The Clio then went down on power on stage three and they lost time across the following three tests until they could solve the issue in the main service back at Pickering showground. It turned out to be a crank sensor problem, so it was replaced and they contested the remaining four stages without drama to earn a top 10 finish.

"The car wasn't suited to the stages at all as it only had a top speed of 98mph, which wasn't enough but we're pleased with the top 10 result," 23-year-old O'Mahony said.

"We were disappointed that the crank sensor problem cost us a lot of time but we were just delighted to finally get to the bottom of what was causing the mysterious drop in power, we had every other thing changed and this was the last on our list.

"The stages were lovely though, we enjoyed the rally overall and it's good to get a good finish on the loose and more points in the championship."

No updated BRC championship tables are currently available due to the pending appeal.

O'Mahony and Higgins will return to action in the BRC in the final two rounds on Wales Rally GB on December 5-7.

-credit: brianomahony.com