Zoom Evans takes an FST win in Ireland

The second round of the 2008 Ford Fiesta SportingTrophy championship took place last weekend on the UAC Circuit of Ireland Rally. The rally was based in the seaside town of Newcastle on the east coast of Northern Ireland.

The nine Fiesta crews that lined up for the start were to face Sunday's six stages, making up 52 competitive stage miles. The competitors were faced with cold overcast weather conditions as they left the start, and with a possible threat of rain the majority of competitors opted for an intermediate Pirelli tyre, the RE pattern tyre.

The first stage was the 8.7km of Knockiveagh 1. Top seeds Elfyn Evans (18) and Gareth Roberts from Mid Wales would set the quickest stage time followed only three seconds adrift by last season's championship winner Alastair Fisher (18) from Enniskillen with co-driver Barry McNulty. The brothers of Tadhg and Shane Buckley from Ballyhaunis would round out the top three eight seconds behind Evans.

Meanwhile the stage would also claim the first FST victim with Meilyr Evans (18) and co-driver Andrew Roberts, team-mates to Elfyn, retiring with electrical problems. Once the car was back at service the problem was easily fixed but it was an unfortunate early ending for the young Welsh duo.

Paul Quinn (20) and new co-driver Gary McRam from Dungannon were also in trouble; an excursion into a field meant they dropped around a minute to the leaders.

Stage 2, Legananny, at 8.49km would prove to be a dramatic stage for some of the Fiesta crews. First to be caught out were the Buckley brothers: as the car compressed through one of the many dips on the stages it would veer off the road into a field and demolish a wall.

The second Fiesta to retire would be local driver Kyle Orr (18) from Dromore, partnered by new navigator Drew Sturrock from Aberdeen. Orr rolled twice on the last corner of the stage resulting in instant retirement from the rally.

Away from the drama, Fisher would claim the stage win and the overall lead, with Evans eleven seconds adrift. Evans reported having a big moment over a jump and surprising himself. Paul Quinn came back from his off on the first stage to set the third-quickest time on the stage.

Stage 3 was the longest stage of the rally, Slieve Rosley at 8.8km. Fisher would again take the stage win increasing his lead over Evans to 10.4 seconds heading into service. Third-quickest time on the stage was Adrian McBride from Co. Tyrone and Rodney Hicks, closely followed by Stephen Wright (18) from Co. Monaghan and his co-driver Ashley McAdoo. Wright was having a cautious first loop of stages reporting a number of big jumps and greasy road conditions in places but the Pirelli tyres were working well.