Brian O'Mahony and co-driver John Higgins made a successful start to their season on last weekend's two-day West Cork Rally.
The reigning Dunlop National Championship class 6 champions finished 22nd overall and second in class 6 in their OM Concrete Products and Tom Hogan Motors-backed Super 1600 Renault Clio, run by O'Leary Motorsport, on the Clonakilty-based tarmac event.
Their event did not run exactly to plan, however, as a puncture lost them around six minutes on stage three and the gearbox began to cry sick, meaning the crew had to nurse it to the finish on the final day on Sunday.
But, despite the setbacks, the pair made it third time lucky on the West Cork Rally as they had twice previously failed to make it beyond the first day after retiring with mechanical problems and had a positive shakedown ahead of their Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship campaign, which begins in April.
I'm pleased that we finally got to the finish of the West Cork but it's a shame that a few problems hampered us along the way, O'Mahony said.
The event was a good run out before we start the BRC next month and it was good to get some important time back in the car as I hadn't driven it since Rally Ireland in November. The stages were great fun as always and we're pleased that we still managed to get a good result.
O'Mahony and Higgins will run the course car on the Moonraker Forestry Rally on Sunday 13 April in preparation for a return to the gravel for the opening round of the BRC, the Carlisle-based Pirelli International Rally, the following weekend on April 18-19.
