Rory Galligan secured the best overall finish of the season for the Mitsubishi Motors UK rally team as he powered his Lancer Evolution VIII to a second place finish on the final round of the Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship – the Tempest Rally.
Galligan's performance also saw him scoop Production Class honours and a fifth Group N victory of the season, although amazingly it wasn't enough to see him beat it was amazingly still not enough to beat Barry Clark to championship honours as the Eddie Stobart Motorsport team did enough to wrap up the title.
Mitsubishi team-mate David Higgins and Daniel Barritt led the event for eleven of the 16 stages, but their run of bad luck continued when a broken rear differential forced them into retirement.
Having experienced a year of mixed fortunes, the Mitsubishi team went to the event hopeful of scoring a one-two in the Production Category and, with Higgins seeded number one and Galligan number three, the chance of ending the season with a first and second overall was not out of the question.
Friday evening's stages in the dark were to bolster Mitsubishi's aspirations, with the leaderboard before the overnight halt showing Higgins an impressive first overall, with a lead of 14.7 seconds ahead of Galligan in second.
Saturday started off according to plan, but on SS5, the second of the day, Galligan began to experience gear selection problems which dropped him to third, albeit by just three tenths of a second, behind Will Nicholls in a WRC Subaru.
At the following service halt at Rushmoor Arena the team changed the gear linkage and with his car back on form, Galligan re-claimed second place on stage seven. Things then looked good for Mitsubishi to fulfil their prediction, with the two red Lancers heading the field.
However, having completed SS11 through Rushmoor Arena, Higgins reported that all was not well with his car's rear differential. With three more stages before the next service halt he attempted the next test, but victory was snatched from his grasp when the transmission gave up the ghost and he was forced out.
"It was really good to lead the event," he said. "I just wish we could have taken the overall win. It would have been a great end to the season for the team. Leading for most of the rally proved just how quick these cars can be and what we can achieve when everything's going well. I really thought our bad luck may have been behind us for, but as the year has not been all we wanted it to be, it's better for the team to get all of the problems out of the way in one season."
