Devine stakes Irish Tarmac claim with Circuit of Ireland win
A pacey performance from Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan secured victory on the 2023 Circuit of Ireland. The Volkswagen Polo R5 pairing led from the opening stage to claim a 10.2-second win over Irish Tarmac Rally Championship leaders, Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes.
Devine’s determined drive on demanding stages surrounding Cookstown puts him back in the Irish Tarmac hunt. The championship now has three winning crews after three rounds.
In fact, the successful trio completed the Circuit of Ireland podium as Galway International Rally winners Meirion Evans and Jonathan Jackson finished third on the eight-stage event.
Bumps, jumps, and bone-crunching compressions were the words of choice on the single-day Circuit. The condensed itinerary added pressure to get a quick getaway and it was Devine and O’Sullivan who grabbed stage one by the neck to steal an early lead.
Devine braved the bumps of Wolf’s Hill to set a benchmark 3.8 seconds faster than Josh Moffett’s in-form Hyundai i20 R5.
Desi Henry and Sam Moffett were third and fourth after stage one while Meirion Evans was left 9.4 seconds adrift in fifth. The severity of the bumps was a shock to the system for the Welshman who struggled to match his regular rivals. Evans was fighting with his Polo R5 which was wandering across the road, following the undulating road surface.
Cathan McCourt’s Citroen C3 Rally2 was an early Circuit of Ireland casualty. The Citroen broke its driveshaft on the first junction, costing McCourt and co-driver Caolan McKenna three minutes before getting it fixed in the next service halt.
A fuel pump issue squandered Declan Boyle’s opening stage efforts. Boyle’s run of mechanical misfortune continued to follow him despite switching to two different cars in the past two events. He dropped 17 seconds on Wolf’s Hill.
Aware of Devine’s fast start, Josh Moffett responded by winning stage two. The fastest time cut Devine’s lead to 0.3 seconds heading into the Circuit of Ireland’s first service period.
After taking more caution on the jumps through stage two, Devine realised he couldn’t afford such a luxury if he was to keep the charging Moffett behind.
Desi Henry held third after two stages, 1.6 seconds ahead of Evans who jumped ahead of Sam Moffett on stage two. Evans was still a bit uncertain of the constantly inconsistent elevation changes as he recalled a near rally-ending moment on one of Mucker’s brutal bumps.
Another responding to a slower-than-usual start was Jonny Greer. He went third fastest through Mucker although he too wasn’t exactly enjoying the back-breaking landings aboard his Citroen.
Greer kept up his momentum on stage three to move level with Sam Moffett in fifth position. Moffett was less than three seconds slower than Greer through The Hollow and reckoned the time was coming from a lack of fine detail in his pacenotes. An off-camber corner and an incorrect line approaching a hairpin upset Moffett’s rhythm through the 12.9-kilometre test.
Meanwhile, Evans and Jackson had slipped into third, 1.3 seconds ahead of Henry and Paddy Robinson.
Callum Devine unleashed his unrelenting best on stage four, the tight and twisty 14.5 kilometres of Shanmaghry. Devine went fastest by an incredible 13.3 seconds, banking on his ability to keep his Polo R5 out of the scenery as he blitzed through the narrow County Tyrone sideroads.
Josh Moffett witnessed his 0.8-second deficit to Devine dramatically increase to 14.1 seconds at the Circuit of Ireland’s halfway point. The West Cork Rally winner had a big moment over a Shanmaghry crest, finishing the stage with a puncture. Defying the odds in his typical fashion, Moffett still managed to set a second-fastest time through stage four.
Sibling Sam also suffered some damage on Shanmaghry. He lost the power steering in his Hyundai after an abrupt landing after yet another crest. Moffett lost three seconds to Greer who had now moved into fourth ahead of Desi Henry.
Seven seconds separated sixth-placed Moffett from third-placed Evans with a repeat of the Circuit of Ireland’s four stages remaining.
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Josh Moffett upped the ante, taking a hat-trick of fastest times between stage five and seven. He took a chunk out of his previous Wolf’s Hill effort – his flat-out effort beating stage five’s bogey time.
Evans was back on form at the start of Saturday afternoon’s stages. He was 10 seconds faster than his time on the dusty opening stage and now held a six-second margin in third.
Greer continued to struggle with the compressions on Wolf’s Hill, allowing Henry to slide back into fourth. Sam Moffett hit more trouble, losing over 10 seconds stuck in one of stage five’s initial chicanes.
A puncture on stage six cost Henry a minute and dropped him down the leaderboard to eighth. Just ahead of the hapless Henry, Declan Boyle had slipped 3.4 seconds ahead of Robert Barrable to move into the top six.
Barrable was to finish the Circuit of Ireland in sixth, however, as Boyle slide off the road on the final stage of the day.
Sam Moffett completed his eventful day in fifth, continuing to relearn the Rally2 ropes behind the wheel of his new Hyundai. Jonny Greer was getting faster and faster as the competitive kilometres started to run out. A second and third-fastest time on the final two stages brought the County Down driver to within three seconds of the podium positions.
Third place was Meirions Evans, though. The Welshman continues his streak of podium positions to keep his Irish Tarmac title bid under control.
Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan ensured they didn’t let their first international rally win of 2023 slip, going fastest on the Circuit’s Shanmaghry finale by 0.8 seconds over runners-up Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes. After two tough results in Galway and Clonakilty, Devine is more than happy to join the wealth of prestigious Circuit of Ireland winners and get his championship challenge kick-started.
“It is fantastic to get our name on the Circuit of Ireland trophy,” said Devine. “It was crucial for our championship fight to get a good result here because we’ll probably be dropping our scores from the first two rounds.
“It will be good to push on from this and it is nice to be going into Killarney next where we went well last year. Of course, Donegal will be after that – two big events that we want to be pushing for the win on.
“The momentum from the Circuit of Kerry definitely helped us be quick from the very first stage. Thankfully both rallies were dry so we were able to pick up from where we left off last week.”
Photos by D Harrigan Images
