Fisher lands the Fiesta SportingTrophy Ireland series
Carryduff driver Jonathan Greer and co-driver Jonny Hart took the final round win in this year’s Fiesta SportingTrophy IE series. However, despite their maximum points score, it was Fermanagh driver Alastair Fisher and co-driver Barry McNulty who clinched the inaugural FST IE title on this weekends Cork ‘20’ Rally.
The immense battle that developed throughout the season culminated in a tie-break situation between Fisher and Greer which was decided based around the results for round one, the Galway Rally back in February. Fisher’s third place finish on that event was enough to seal the championship for the 19-year-old.
Four Fiesta crews left parc ferme on the outskirts of Cork city this morning to face six high-speed tests totaling 95 kilometers in the north of the county. The warm but very overcast conditions made tyre choice a lottery over the opening loop of three stages. Greer opted for a slick tyre all round while Fisher and Conor Harvey opted for slicks on the front and intermediates on the rear, both drivers reporting stability issues over the fast stages.
Quickest over the first test was Greer, setting a time 4.3 seconds faster than his nearest rival Fisher. Both drivers had travelled overnight from the penultimate round of the UK series, the Colin McRae Forest Rally and were on the pace from the outset.
Tadhg Buckley emerged from the 19.3km test in third place, 3.6 seconds slower than Fisher and reported no problems. Harvey with father Noel in the co-driver seat was a further 13.9 seconds adrift and was despondent by the early pace of the two front runners.
Stage two and three saw Greer and Hart set quickest times on both tests and they arrived into the Mallow Racecourse service area with a 19.5 second lead over Fisher and McNulty. Buckley and brother Shane were third quickest over stages two and three and they extended their lead over Harvey to 26.6 seconds going into first service.
With the sun breaking through the cloud and temperatures rising, all crews opted for medium compound slicks for the second and final loop of three stages. This appeared to make a difference to the stage times with all four drivers finishing stage four within eight seconds of each other over 19.2km.
The penultimate test saw Fisher and McNulty set their first and only quickest stage time of the day, finishing the 16.8km test less than a second ahead of the Buckley brothers. Greer was third quickest but still maintained a healthy 22.4 second lead going into the final stage of the event and the championship.
Greer made a last minute charge to preserve his advantage and he went on to set the quickest time through the 11.6km test and seal his second win of the season. Fisher emerged from the stage 1.1 seconds slower than Greer but was jubilant about clinching the title in only his first attempt at the Fiesta SportingTrophy series.
Harvey came off the final stage with the third quickest time, only five seconds down on Fisher and 1.7 seconds quicker than Buckley. However, the overall event classification remained the same with Greer the victor, Fisher in second, Buckley in third and Harvey in fourth place Jonathan Greer picked up the final Castrol Hard Charger Award of the year for setting five quickest Fiesta times over the six stages of the event.
Championship winner Alastair Fisher remarked:
“I am delighted to win the championship as it has been difficult all year. Both Jonny [Greer] and Conor [Harvey] have pushed very hard and it has been very close. It was difficult this morning acclimatising to tarmac after being on gravel yesterday but it has all worked out.”
Final classification:
1 Jonathan Greer/Jonny Hart 55:54.5
2 Alastair Fisher / Barry McNulty 56:18.0
3 Tadhg Buckley / Shane Buckley 56:51.1
4 Conor Harvey / Noel Harvey 57:31.7
Championship points after Round 7 of 7 (including dropped scores):
1 Alastair Fisher 135pts
2 Jonathan Greer 135pts
3 Conor Harvey 127pts
4 Tadhg Buckley 110pts
5 Barry Greer 58pts
6 Kyle Orr 58pts
7 William Mavitty 52pts
9 Paul Quinn 32pts
8 Colin Flanagan 18pts