Monday, 12th May 2008

Evans wins - but ANCRO returnee claims Pirelli GRC honours.

Welshman Melvyn Evans took his second victory in the RBS International Manx Rally last weekend as Roger Duckworth claimed the honours in the 2008 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship as he finished second overall.

Evans and Irish co-driver Sean Mullally finished 50.9 seconds ahead of Duckworth and co-driver Mark Broomfield in their Subaru Impreza WRC to win the event for the first time since 2002.

Duckworth and Broomfield were making a return to competition following their accident on the Cork 20 International Rally in October and despite losing a considerable amount of time on stage seven with a clutch slipping, posted a solid performance to take maximum points in the ANCRO-organised 2008 Pirelli Gravel Rally Championship in their Subaru Impreza WRC.

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"We've had a good run," Duckworth said. "That's the sixth time we've been second on this event! It's been good and I'm happy with the comeback we've made after the Cork 20 and to get the points in the championship but I'm upset not to have won the Tony Davies award for the fastest times through the two Kella stages."

Championship leaders Jon Ingram and co-driver Ian Allsop, who won round two, finished third in their different, hired, right-hand drive Subaru Impreza WRC. The crew battled through several problems and were doubtful if they would continue at the restart on Saturday after they had an issue with the gearbox. They also had a problem with the diff on the first stage on Saturday but battled back to make the podium and increase their lead to 13 points.

Irish crew Keith Cronin and Greg Shinnors finished fifth overall, first in Group N, took third place in the Gravel Championship and won the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge. It was Cronin's first time in the Isle of Man and he showed some good pace despite a puncture on the final stage in his Mitsubishi Evo 9 to end up behind the Audi A3 Quattro of David Kynaston/Andy Russell.

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