McHALE BACK IN ACTION FOR CORK 20

Posted: September 30, 2002 11:47 AM

The five times Tarmac Champion has won the Cork '20' on four previous occasions, and last time the event was run in 2000, he finished in third place. Since then he has changed the Toyota Finance-supported Corolla WRC for an updated version in left-hand drive format and has not had quite the success with the car that he would have hoped. However, the car has been totally rebuilt in preparation for this weekend and although the championship title is outside of his grasp, McHale will be intent on taking his best result in the series this year in Cork.

The competition, as ever, includes some of the toughest opposition in any rally championship and while McHale starts as number 3 from the start ramp, ahead of him are reigning Tarmac Champion, Andrew Nesbitt, who has taken maximum points in the series so far in 2002, and Eamonn Boland.

Said McHale: "We did a one-day recce last Sunday and completed all the stages twice. It was dry to begin with but it started raining in the afternoon. Overall they're fast stages and I'm sure it's going to be a very good event. Some of the stages we've done before and some are new, but I'm quietly confident of getting a good result, and even though the Toyota Ireland Corolla is of an older specification, it is very reliable. Aaron is also out in Cork and he's already won the Group N International Championship while Gareth is competing in France, so we're all expecting a good weekend."

The Murphy Construction Cork "20" International Rally uses the city's infrastructure to link the Rochestown Park Hotel base to action on the 14 scheduled special stages over the two days. Saturday's stages take place to the west of the city, starting at 10am from the city centre. They consist of a loop of four repeated twice and include some of the classic stages of former years and. On Sunday, in East Cork, a further six stages - based on a loop of three - will be completed by early afternoon with centralised servicing each day.