McCormack back on form In Ulster!

Marty McCormack and navigator David Moynihan had a very controlled drive on the John Mulholland Motors Ulster Rally netting them a fine 6th overall, but it wasn’t an easy ride!

After breaking his wrist, Marty returned to rallying for the Ulster Rally round 6 of the British Rally Championship. Having not driven the car in anger since May it was going to take some time to acclimatize to it. This was evident at the end of stage 1, as he found himself trailing the leaders by nearly forty seconds. “It was up there with the trickiest stages I have ever done, some of the corners were dry and some were wet but most were covered in mud! It was treacherous! Like everyone else, we went out on the wrong tyres for the conditions, this caused us to have a couple of big moments, so I decided to just pace myself, get to the finish of the stage and take it from there”. “We have been a long time out of the car so it’s all about getting the confidence back to push, which is not easy in these conditions!”

Finding a better rhythm on the drying stage 2, Marty went 6th quickest to climb to 10th overall. “Stage 2, went much better, I was back into the driving, which was encouraging.” Another good time through stage stage 3 cemented their 10th position and left them within striking distance of the top 7. Marty commented at service “Those stages were unbelievably slippery, so much mud has been brought onto the road by the local farmers, it is like driving on ice in some places! We got through it, many didn’t, so we have to be happy we are here and in one piece!”

Another 3 stages finished off day one of the event, with Marty taking some impressive times. He finished the day 10th overall and only 20 seconds off 7th. It was a very good showing for his first time back in the car after a number of months. Day two and the conditions were equally as unpredictable. It was obvious that tyre choice was going to be the story of the rally. A brace of quick times on the opening stages vaulted Marty up the leader-board and by mid day service the Tiger Risk Skoda Fabia S2000 was holding 7th and less than 20 seconds behind 6th.

With 4 stages left Marty went on the attack to reel in 6th placed man Josh Moffett. Finally on the penultimate stage he passed Josh, to claim the position. He held the position through the final test and crossed the finish ramp in 6th place overall and 5th British Rally Championship crew. This finish moves Marty and David into 8th overall in the championship after what can only be described as a disaster of a season. Marty is now hoping to compete on the final round of the British Rally Championship, the Rally Isle of Man in September. Marty has not competed on the event since he 2009 where he finished 7th overall and won the R2 category behind the wheel of a Citroen C2 R2. He will be hoping for more of the same this September!

You can keep up to date with Marty on Twitter @martymccormack and Facebook.com/marty.mccormack1. Marty is competing this season with the support of Tiger Risk Partners, P McCormack and Sons Ltd.