Toner stepping up to National and Border Championships in 2020

Armagh’s Marty Toner will tackle both the National Rally Championship and the Border Rally Championship this year in his Class 13 Ford Escort Mk2.

Next weekend’s Mayo Stages Rally will be Toner’s opening championship round having already competed in two rallies since the New Year. Fifth overall on Donegal’s Mini Stages Rally was followed up with third in two-wheel-drive on the Birr Stages Rally. Sharon Clarke Moore will be back in as Toner’s co-driver for Mayo.

“I plan to contest the National and Border Championships this year,” said Toner. “And a few local rallies in-between.

“I’ve had two good rallies already this year so hopefully things look good for the rest of the year but you just never know at the minute.

“I just want to try to punch in a few good results this year. I’ll be working closely with Mark Shillaber at SRD Race Engines to develop a few new products and maybe working with MRF on their tyre development too.”

Toner showed early promise in 2019 after he switched to his Escort from a Talbot Sunbeam but a string of three retirements dampened the second half of his season.

“Last year was up and down. I had a couple of nice results to get settled back into the new car but then suffered a list of retirements late in the season.

“The Escort is a much more advanced car than the Sunbeam was.”

Photo by Gavin Woods

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