Team Ireland became the first repeat winner in the current season and, combined with a strong fifth place finish in the earlier Sprint race and fastest lap in the Feature race, amassed a 20 point haul to move to the top of the series standings to lead Portugal by eight points.

It was a textbook performance throughout the weekend from the Portadown driver and the entire Ireland squad who produced impeccable pit stops in both races to complement the searing pace they had unlocked from the Powered by Ferrari car.

Carroll led away from pole position in the 34 lap Feature race and, after a brief safety car period, soon set about making a break at the head of the field.

He emerged from the first of two compulsory stops with his lead intact and was more than six seconds clear by the time of the second round of stops. A sub -10 second stop by the Irish crew combined with stunning in and out laps by Carroll meant that Ireland was more than 10 seconds clear of Portugal within two laps and, with a fresh set of tyres on board, Carroll set about making it a perfect afternoon by securing the point for fastest lap, before building up a lead of just less than 16 seconds by the chequered flag to record Ireland's second Feature race win in A1GP racing and their second race win of the season to go with the Sprint race success in China last time out.

The series now takes a break of two months, with the action re-commencing in late January in New Zealand.
RICHARD Beattie and Ian Hawthorne emerged victorious on the Rathfriland Motor Club organised Banbridge Leader Rogues Rally and while history will record that Beattie and Hawthorne claimed the top spot, a closer inspection of the results will show that their night long tussle with the Banbridge crew of Barry Gilpin and Denis Morton couldn't have finished any closer.
The number one seeds and past winners Eddie Murphy and Barry Taggart led the 25 crews away from the Old George in Rathfriland ahead of the Triumph 2000 of Dromore's Clifford Auld and John Lindsey.
But it was the novice crews of Beattie/Hawthorne and Gilpin/Morton that emerged as joint leaders of the event at the end of the third section.

As Gilpin and Morton were the first to pick up their penalty points, the overall win was awarded to Beattie and Hawthorne.

Behind the battle for first and second, Neil and Rebecca Fletcher turned in a perfect performance on the second half of the event to pick up zero penalties to secure third place overall in their Mk1 Ford Mexico, with Andrew Hughes and Neil Anderson finishing only one point behind in fourth.

 

Andy and Michael Gilmore finished an excellent fifth overall to win the Rallyschool Class after class rivals Eric McComb and Aaron Kilpatrick sneaked ahead after the halfway halt.