Other rally
ITRC: Cork: The penultimate round preview
The Murphy Construction Cork "20" International Rally, the penultimate round of the Toshiba Computers Irish Tarmac Championship swings into action on Saturday morning (October 5th.) with top seed and championship leader, Andrew Nesbitt ready to ...
Edited: Mar 24, 2004, 1:16 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The Murphy Construction Cork "20" International Rally, the penultimate round of the Toshiba Computers Irish Tarmac Championship swings into action on Saturday morning (October 5th.) with top seed and championship leader, Andrew Nesbitt ready to clinch the title. Organised by the Munster Motor Cycle and Car Club, the "20"as its affectionately known, has a capacity and cracking entry that will be tested over the 14 special stages of the two day event. Nesbitt needs just a solitary point to claim his second title in three years as he seeks another outright win in a round of the Tarmac series. The Armagh driver has dominated the series with victories on the Circuit of Ireland, Rally of the Lakes, Jim Clark and Ulster Rally along with second in the Manx (first in championship terms).
Only Eamonn Boland can prevent Nesbitt from gaining his second tarmac crown, however, he must win both the Cork "20" and West 2002 rallies to achieve this virtually impossible goal, especially when one considers Nesbitt's form.
Nesbitt will be the first car away from the County Hall early on Saturday morning where he will be followed by Boland and five times Irish Tarmac Champion, Austin MacHale. MacHale has won the Cork "20" on four separate occasions, but it's been twelve years since his last success. The Rathcoole driver will be hoping that his Toyota Corolla WRC will be in top shape for his latest encounter. Peadar Hurson (Toyota Celica) continues to be a revelation, although the Warrenpoint driver has made several early exits from a number of the championship rounds. Michael Barrable, a winner of the Tipperary Stonethrowers and Galway Summer rallies, was an early retirement in the recent Clare Rally with a blown turbo. He was sixth in the Rally Masters in Punchestown and will be expected to be within the top five in the Cork "20".Welshman, Mel Evans is the first of the overseas contingent, Evans who won the West Cork Rally earlier this year, reverts to his Escort WRC rather than his most recent Subaru.
Local man, Liam McCarthy, with the pace notes, occupies the number seven berth. McCarthy is still trying to attain a level of consistency from his car. The top ten also features Maurice Gass (Subaru WRC), Ollie O'Donovan (Hyundai Accent WRC) and Steve Fleck (Subaru WRC). O'Donovan debuted the Hyundai in Clare juts two weeks ago and finished fifth, he continues his acclimatization in Cork. Tim NcNulty will drive a Derek McGarrity prepared Subaru WRC and is duly seeded at eleven ahead of outgoing Southern 4 champion, Johnny O'Sullivan (Escort WRC). Although seeded, Hugh Dunne is a non-starter.
Others in the top twenty are Kevin Barrett and Barry Coleman in Subaru's. They sandwich the Group N contingent of Trevor Cathers (Mitsubishi), Seamus Leonard (Subaru), Roy White and Bob Fowden in Mitsubishis. Cathers has a strong lead in the showroom category with just four points separating White and Leonard. Gerry McVeigh, Aaron McHale, Nigel Hicklin, Dick Curran and local Cork driver, John O'Leary add further interest in the same category. MacHale is the new Group N national champion.
The Murphy Construction Cork "20" International Rally is a counting round of: The Toshiba Computers Irish Tarmac Championships.
The Ford Ka Championship.
The 023 Tiles Southern 4 Championship.
The Ford Focus Championship
-tcitc-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Sun City: Previous winners Coetzee, Leeke preview
Next article Peugeot Rali Rota do Vidro summary
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Clark
Who belongs on F1's Mount Rushmore? Pick your four greatest drivers
Formula 1
Formula 1
Who belongs on F1's Mount Rushmore? Pick your four greatest drivers
The 25 greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time, ranked
Formula 1
Formula 1
The 25 greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time, ranked
Latest news
Did Max Verstappen already know the impact of Red Bull’s big upgrade when he signed his new deal?
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
22 min
Did Max Verstappen already know the impact of Red Bull’s big upgrade when he signed his new deal?
WEC: Barcelona 6 Hours schedule and TV times
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
1 h
WEC: Barcelona 6 Hours schedule and TV times
Brennan Poole joins Jordan Anderson Racing for 2027 NASCAR O'Reilly season
NASCAR O'Reilly
NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly
Phoenix II
3 h
Brennan Poole joins Jordan Anderson Racing for 2027 NASCAR O'Reilly season
Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead
NASCAR Truck
NSTR NASCAR Truck
Phoenix
7 h
Kaden Honeycutt wins incident-free Phoenix NASCAR Truck race, extends points lead
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe