On his first Circuit of Ireland, Krisztián Hideg dominated the NR4 category, winning ERC2 by 23.9s in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX.
The Hungarian driver finished the event with no brakes, but managed to get the car back to Belfast for the finish in 13th overall. Vojtěch Štajf suffered brake problems on the longest stage in his Subaru Duck Czech National Team Impreza WRX STI, but second in Northern Ireland gives him the lead in the drivers’ points table.
Dávid Botka enjoyed a trouble-free run in his Lancer Evolution IX, finishing a strong third, while Tibor Érdi had to nurse his Evo X through part of the final day with broken suspension and looked set to finish fourth, before a late retirement.
Glamour model Inessa Tushkanova walked away from a heavy crash, after skidding off the road in her Lancer Evolution X.
The ADAC Opel Rallye Junior Team scored a fantastic 1-2 in ERC Junior, with Emil Bergkvist scoring his second victory of the season in his Adam R2.
He was put under pressure on day two by a charging team-mate, Marijan Griebel, who closed the gap to just 0.2s by the finish. Such was the pace of the Opel drivers, that they finished ninth and 10th overall.
Chris Ingram finished third in his Peugeot UK 208 and was rightly delighted to finish on the podium, having crashed out of all three of his previous rallies in Northern Ireland. Sports Racing Technologies team-mates Vasily Gryazin and Ralfs Sirmacis finished fourth and fifth in their 208s. Gryazin had to deal with steering problems on SS10 and a broken engine mount on SS12, which made gear selection awkward, while Sirmacis visited a field on SS11.
Łukasz Pieniążek recovered from two early big moments to finish seventh on his Circuit debut, while Florin Tincescu was eighth in a similar 208, despite finishing SS12 with flames coming off the front brakes. Calvin Beattie took ninth.
Norway’s Steve Røkland (208) was fourth when he crashed his 208 one kilometre from the end of the final stage. Julius Tannert had a difficult event, breaking a driveshaft in his Adam on day one and hitting a telegraph pole and breaking the radiator on day two. Mattias Adielsson and Kevin Eves both crashed their 208s on day two, while Fergus Greensmith’s Fiesta also ended up in a ditch.
The unluckiest driver on the Circuit of Ireland was Jon Armstrong. He held a big 33.4s lead overnight in his 208, but was given a five minute penalty for missing a tyre marking. The Northern Ireland driver elected not to start day two but earned the prestigious Colin McRae ERC Flat Out Trophy for his efforts. Ekaterina Stratieva won the ERC Ladies’ Trophy.
