Paddy McToal and Connor O’Loan have continued their run of excellent form after two more points finishes in rounds six and seven of the Hankook NI Championship.

The Glenravel based crew contested the Dogleap rally in early August and put in a solid performance on the first gravel stages of the year to come away with maximum points in class 4 and a superb 18^th overall.

The team had their first experience with Hankook gravel tyres on this event and were pleasantly surprised with the performance. ‘We have used other makes of gravel tyres in the past and thought we might need time to adjust to the Hankooks but they seem to be very workable and easy to get the hang of.’ said Paddy at the Limavady finish.

The team returned to the forests at the Lakeland Stages rally held in Enniskillen at the weekend. A solid drive on the opening loop of stages saw the crew lying second in class at the mid-day service in the village of Garrison. ‘The stages are very wet this morning and are a bit tricky in places,’ explained Paddy, ‘the 11 miler Carrigans stage is a real test, the last couple of miles were very slippery but the car setup is very good and the Hankooks are doing the job well.

On the opening test after service Paddy posted equal fastest time in the class and a further push saw him claw back four seconds on stage 6. But the crew got into difficulty on the road section to stage 7 with engine trouble forcing them to pull over. ‘The engine started making worrying noises as we left stage 6,’ commented co-driver Connor, ‘we got her pulled over to see what we could do, but we had to decide whether to drive on and risk the engine or retire at that point.’ With time ticking away Paddy took the decision to drive on and nurse the car over the final two stages back to the finish in Enniskillen and pick up the points and a well deserved 36^th overall.

With just under a fortnight remaining to round eight, McToal Motorsport will be burning the midnight oil to have the car up and running in time for the Omagh based Bushwhacker event.

Keep up to date with the McToal Motorsport team by following the link http://www.facebook.com/mctoalmotorsport