Irish champ claims Jim Clark Rally

The Subaru Impreza WRC ace and his co-driver James O'Brien beat points leader Jonny Milner by 2m37.9sec over the 21 stages. His Toyota Corolla was chased home by more Irish asphalt experts, Eamonn Boland, Tim McNulty and Maurice Gass.

Another Irishman Derek McGarrity led much of the early stages, but retired on SS9 with a broken propshaft. Milner almost threw it away on the same stage with a spin into a ditch that cost him a minute.

Then on SS17, Milner missed his breaking point and hit a wall, damaging the front suspension. His service crew fixed it only for the turbo to fail as he was setting off again. The ensuing time penalties following repairs dropped him from second to fourth, and he was forced to put in a charge to regain the runner-up spot.

In the Super 1600 class, Justin Dale bounced back from his shunt in last month's Scottish Rally to take victory and eighth place overall for Peugeot.

David Higgins was the top Group N runner, his Subaru Impreza taking seventh overall.

The next event is the Manx Rally, which will also feature the Irish tarmac specialists. Nesbitt registered for championship points on the Jim Clark, leaving Milner with just six. And with Dale claiming 10 in the Super 1600 class, the pressure will be on in the Isle of Man for Milner to cling on to his advantage.

Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien Subaru Impreza WRC 2h07m29.0s
Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech Toyota Corolla WRC +2m37.9s
Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrisey Subaru Impreza WRC +2m43.5s
Robert Woodside/Dean Beckett Subaru Impreza WRC +2m51.0s
Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor Subaru Impreza WRC +4m18.5s
Maurice Gass/Geoffrey Orr Subaru Impreza WRC +4m38.7s

1 Jonny Milner 32pts; 2 Justin Dale 23; 3 Guy Wilks 16; 4 Kris Meeke 15; 5 David Higgins 13; 6= Andrew Nesbitt, Mark Higgins and Gwyndaf Evans 10