John Warren and Ruthann O’Connor flew the Mayo flag at the O’Connell Group Cork ‘20’ International Rally on Sunday, the first Irish tarmac rally in some 18 months.
After the day’s nine stages they finished a career best 8th place overall in the National section and comprehensively took the class 13R win.
The pair started the opening loop of stages cautiously; following their good form in the McHale Engineering backed Toyota Corolla at the Mayo Stages Rally in March 2020.
They had plans to contest the Border and National Championships before the pandemic, the husband and wife team made some setup changes after the opening three stages.
Changes which saw them move from 12th overall and 4th in class to rocket up the leader board and move into pole position in the class, a lead they commanded over the next six stages.
They were pipped for 7th place at the finish line by only 5 seconds.
Next up for the McHale Rally team is the possibility of getting an entry into the currently oversubscribed Donegal Harvest or Wexford Stages Rally.
