Stephen Wright claims victory in closest ever Northern Ireland rally championship finish

A mere 0.1 seconds - after half an hour of competition - split Wright and co-driver Ger Conway with three-time champion Jonny Greer.

“I did everything I could on the last stage,” said an unregistered Wright, meaning while it was second on result sheets the Citroen C3-mounted Greer took maximum points heading to next month’s six-stage Bishopscourt round.

“It was a bit more difficult for us,” noted Greer due to less power but three stage wins formed a positive sign for the season.

Just over 30 seconds back, Aaron McLaughlin’s extensive seat time gave the Donegal driver a podium finish ahead of Gareth Sayers thanks to misfire trouble for Derek McGarrity, who had held an early advantage in a Volkswagen Polo.

Now 13 years on from being crowned champion Stuart Biggestaff, in sixth, plans a full campaign this year.

James Lecky, though, hadn’t even competed in 25 years but the former Killarney Rally of the Lakes winner hired a McKinstry Motorsport car to finish just inside the top 20. He will now concentrate on gravel with this weekend’s Spring Rally in Fivemiletown.

The new Micra Challenge division was added to the roster with ten entries headed by Stephen Whitford and Jonny Hart at the finish in a kit-car-spec version of the nimble Nissans.

The club level budget class will visit another five events across a mixture of surfaces, ending at Omagh’s Bushwhacker in September.

Despite a stage four spin and using the day as a car set up test, brothers Jason and Gareth Black won the two-wheel-drive race from husband and wife duo James and Heather Kennedy.

In other news, AP Art crew Mark Donnelly and Stephen O’Hanlon won the Irish Forest Rally Championship counter in Killarney by 10.9 seconds, with two stage wins to boot.