ITRC: Cork: Final summary

They came, they saw and they conquered.

Andrew Nesbitt and James O'Brien added another perfect score to record breaking Toshiba Tarmac Championship total in Cork when they won the Cork '20' by 1 minute 28seconds from title rivals Eamonn Boland and Damien Morrissey. The pair hed led in their Subaru Ireland/Cuisine de France Impreza WRC from the very first of the 14 special stages, and once Austin McHale had retired his Corolla WRC with electrical problems after Stage 4, the Armagh man had things well under control for the rest of the event.

The victory brought their 2002 total to five out of a possible six - they were second overall and top Tarmac points scorers on the Manx - and was more than enough to ensure them the 2002 Toshiba Tarmac Title.

Boland and Morrissey started with an outside chance of scooping the honours. To do it though, they would have had to win in Cork and go on to repeat the feat in next months West 2002, the final round, with Nesbitt failing to finish both.

As things turned out, Boland's 'new shape' Impreza WRC ran faultlessly but had no answer to Nesbitt's pace.

Third place went to Peadar Hurson and Ian Porter in their rapid GpA Toyota Celica. It was their first finish of the year, and they ended the event just over a minute behind Boland but comfortably clear of Donal O'Donovan and Pat Lordan in another Celica.

Maurice Gass and Geoffrey Orr brought their Impreza WRC home fifth, almost a minute ahead of Bob Fowden and Gerry Hynes, whose Mitsubishi Evo 5 took Group N honours.

Another Impreza in the hands of Ollie O'Donovan and David Moynihan placed seventh ahead of GpN runners-up Dickie Curran and Anthony Donnelly in another Mitsubishi.

Liam McCarthy and Kieran Murphy brought their Corolla WRC home in ninth place, closely followed by the Mitsubishi of Aaron McHale and Elva Roe.

Nesbitt certainly scored a famous victory in Cork, but the Toshiba Tarmac Championship is not over yet. There are places and class battles still to be decided, and the final acts of the drama will be played out in Galway on November 8 and 9.

Will Nesbitt appear to try and make history by achieving a maximum score?

Will Eamonn Boland get the International victory he has been trying for all season?

Will Trevor Cathers be able to keep his Group N challengers at bay?

Will you be there?

Whether you will or not, keep in touch with the action through Toshibarally.com.

-bss ltd-