Triple flat Fusion 4 Plus brings Mayo man's rally to a halt

The Irish Tarmac Rally Championship headed north for its second round of the season, and the McHale Rally Team crew of John Warren and Ruthann O’Connor were among the over 100-strong entry list for the two-day event over the weekend before last.

The already tricky lanes around the Dungannon rally base turned into torrents of running water after non-stop rain before its mid-afternoon opening stages. As a result, the crews set off on wet tyres.

Finding the right tarmac set-up for a rally car is a challenge even for experienced teams and when you consider that all of the south Mayo husband and wife team's recent rallying in their newly acquired Fusion 4 Plus Rally2 Ford Fiesta took place on events which were dry, it was going to be a challenge from the word go.

Speaking just before the start of the first stage of the Circuit of Ireland, Ruthann was clear with her plan. She explained: “The key to the wet weather is being able to read the current conditions of the surface of the stages during the rally and adapt your pre-made pacenotes, which in our case have been made in the dry days prior to the start of the rally and also because the rally cars, when 'cutting' the corners, gradually pull sand and mud from the ditches onto the road, which dramatically reduces the grip of your tyres.

“Therefore, it is extremely important to try and foresee in advance which passages you need to slow down. Cutting corners also significantly increases the risk of picking up a puncture.”

It looked as though John had other ideas and threw caution to the wind as the Fusion 4 Plus Rally2 snaked along the rain-soaked opening stage, perfectly cutting into the mucky verges at every opportunity to finish the opener in 16th place overall and just behind former Irish Tarmac Rally and Irish Forest Rally champion driver Gary Jennings, also in a Rally2 Fiesta.

Warren flew through the Circuit of Ireland’s second stage, repeating his opening performance despite saying afterwards he was being cautious and was surprised to hold 15th place overall after the opening day.

Saturday’s stages consisted of three loops of three stages south of Dungannon, and the weather once again provided wet and slippery stages with copious amounts of standing water. Despite this, Warren – a design engineer based in McHale Engineering, Ballinrobe – continued to show good pace on the opening test. However, drama was to occur on stage four, with the crew having to change a puncture at the time control just before the stage start.

That wasn't the end of the drama either. Agonisingly for the pair, their Fiesta sustained two more punctures, the first (front left) and the second (rear left) midway through the stage, bringing their rally to an early conclusion.

It was also a dramatic end to the overall event as three of the top four – Keith Cronin, Matt Edwards and Eddie Doherty – all hit trouble on the penultimate stage with double punctures, and it created the perfect opportunity for Derry's Callum Devine and his Killarney co-driver Noel O'Sullivan to take their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 to victory ahead of the Ford Fiesta Rally2 of the aforementioned Garry Jennings and his co-driver Rory Kennedy, with Donegal's David Kelly and Monaghan's Arthur Kierans third in a VW Polo R5.

Speaking after the event, Warrent said: “Given the conditions, I didn't want to take any risks, but I'm finding it easier to commit, especially under braking. In these conditions I wasn't prepared to stick my neck out but yes, I’m not leaving here ‘deflated’ considering we are recording our first DNF in the car.”

To keep up to date with the McHale Rally Team and see some amazing footage from the event, follow ‘McHale Rallying’ on TikTok.