The familiar pairing of Barry Greer (20) from Carryduff, Northern Ireland, and John Lemon will be the sixth Fiesta in the pack. Greer, younger brother of Jonny, last year's FST UK Champion, has had a steady start to the Irish series. Greer's last outing on the first round of the UK series ended in disappointment after holing his radiator on Stage 1, forcing him into retirement. He will hope for better luck on what effectively will be his home event, and will look to climb from his current fifth place in the drivers' championship standings.

The seventh Fiesta away will be newcomers Stephen Wright (18) from Co. Monaghan and co-driver Ashley McAdoo. With the crew aiming to build on their limited experience in the car, they will look to grab a healthy points haul from the event and build their pace over its duration.

Championship regular Paul Quinn (20) from Dungannon, will again reunite with his Round 1 co-driver Jason Gillespie. Quinn will be hoping for better weather conditions than Galway, where water from flooded roads resulted in the clutch slipping and dropping him valuable time. Quinn's main aim for the rally will be to record a solid finish.

The final registered crew rounding off the fiercely competitive field are Adrian McBride from Omagh, Co. Tyrone and Rodney Hicks. McBride, the former Irish 205 challenge competitor, suffered a disappointing first round when a broken driveshaft on SS5 meant he had to complete two stages of the rally with one-wheel-drive, leaving him to round off the finishers in Galway. Before this unforseen problem McBride had set some promising stage times; this could mean McBride may walk away with a good result at the end of the upcoming event.

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 Fiesta SportingTrophy Ireland series' second meeting.

Elfyn Evans:
"We have been very busy getting the brand new car ready for the Circuit of Ireland, we have had very little time to test before the event but I am still really looking forward to the event. Alastair will of course be very quick, and I have to match his pace but also make sure that I don't take any major risks on the event. A repeat of Galway would be a great result but it will be a tough battle for victory."

D.B. © CAPSIS International
Source: Ford Fiesta SportingTrophy Ireland