Eamonn Boland moved to within touching distance of securing the 2008 Global Group Irish Tarmac Rally Championship title on the International Rally Isle of Man last weekend.
Boland, who has won three rounds of the Irish series this year - having taken the spoils on the Circuit of Ireland, the Rally of the Lakes and the
Jim Clark, had to settle for the runners-up spot on the Manx however, after being beaten by Mark Higgins.
Eamonn had been the favourite to take the overall victory, as he was the only runner in a World Rally Car, and he initially took the lead.
In the end though he finished 11.6 seconds adrift of P1, a mistake on Friday night, when he spun his Subaru Impreza in a rain storm and lost 40 seconds, proving to be crucial.
Although Boland tried to fight back on the final leg and cut Higgins' overnight 67 second cushion right back in the drying conditions, the triple British Rally champion hung on to take the spoils, an impressive feat considering the Atlas TEG Sport man was in an ageing Group N Impreza N11.
"That is the way it goes," Boland told the Rally Isle of Man's official website at the finish. "We messed it up on the first evening in the fog and wet when we overshot a junction. We dropped 40 seconds to Mark on one stage alone.
"But we are happy enough to come back and it is just unfortunate that we didn't get in front."
The result increases Boland's tally for the year to 75 points, 35 points more than his closest rival, with just two rounds, the Ulster International and the Cork '20, left to run - although only the best seven scores count from eight.
Further down the order, Jason Pritchard, who was 13th overall, took third spot in the ITRC classification in his Citroen C2-R2, while Honda Civic runners Martin O'Donnell and Philip Conneely were the only other two runners to take points in the Irish series, fourth and fifth respectively (15th and 20th overall).
