Fiestas race to the Lakes
Round 3 of the Maxol E85 Ford Fiesta SportingTrophy Ireland series takes place on Sunday 4 May when nine registered crews line up for the Killarney Rally Of The Lakes.
The event run by the Killarney and District Motor Club and based around the Killarney National Park and beautiful Ring of Kerry will give competitors the chance to compete on seven stages covering 140 competitive kilometres over some of Ireland’s most famous rally stages.
Leading the crews away will be the championship leading duo of Elfyn Evans (19) from Machynlleth, again partnered by the young Welshman Gareth Roberts. The crew come into the rally with maximum possible points in the championship after two back-to-back wins on Irish soil. The crew who run as part of Elfyn’s father’s - Gwyndaf Evans - GEMsport team will be hoping for another successful rally and make it a trio of wins in the Irish series.
Stephen Wright (18) from Co. Monaghan holds second position in the championship series but with crucial exams taking priority he will sit out the Rally of the Lakes and let the third placed man in the series – Adrian McBride from Co. Tyrone and his co-driver Rodney Hicks - follow Elfyn off the start ramp.
Alastair Fisher, the 2007 FST Ireland champion, will be third away but starts the Rally of the Lakes in an uncharacteristic sixth position in the championship table, having been dogged by bad luck over the first two rounds of the series. The 19-year-old Enniskillen man will be hoping to repeat the form he showed on the recent Pirelli Rally where he dominated the second round of the FST UK series to win by a clear margin.
Two new competitors join the FST series for Killarney Rally, the first of which is James Everard (22) from Hull and his co-driver Sam Collis. The pair currently lead the FST UK series after two rounds and the former karter is using the opportunity to compete on the Killarney Rally to develop his pacenote skills.
The second new team for the Killarney Rally is that of Billy McCullins from Dromore and co-driver Aidan O’Connor. McCullins is a supporter of FST UK driver Liam Regan and this will be his first competitive outing in the FST Ireland series.
The championship uses Maxol E85 Bio-Ethanol fuel produced locally in Ireland from a by-product of the cheese industry by the Carbery Group in Cork to promote the environmentally efficient development work being undertaken by the Ford Motor Company in Ireland.
With the competitors fighting for a prize fund of almost €3,000 on this event, competition will be close and relentless, with any of the crews capable of taking the outright victory of the FST series third meeting.
Elfyn Evans (19) from Machynlleth, Wales said:
"Coming into the third round in the lead of the championship our main aim is to leave here still leading the championship. We have not had any time to do some testing before the event, and we know that Alastair [Fisher] will be quick so I will need to be quick from the word go. It’s good to see James coming over to take the fight to the Irish and Meilyr [Evans] is getting quicker by the event so there will be some tough competition in the event. I have never been to the rally before and I’m really looking forward to it."