LAMPETER and District Motor Club’s Andy Davies, with co-driver Michael Gilbey, were triumphant in the Group N class at the International Rally of the Lakes, hosted by Killarney Motor Club.

Competing in the GAP solutions-backed Group N specification Subaru Impreza, they were seeking more points in the Irish Tarmac Championship, with the possibility of category honours.

The event was held across 16 stages over two days, and they held a 41 second lead in class at the end of the first day.

After day two they finished ninth overall in the international rally, which was won by Craig Breen and co-driver Paul Nagle, and crucially they were 52.3 seconds ahead of the nearest Group N rival.

“It really doesn’t get any better than this,” said Davies. “We have now retaken the Group N Irish Tarmac Rally Championship lead, and it’s still all to play for.

“It was an absolutely incredible job by my team in service, and all the boys managing our rally. And not forgetting my left hand man Michael Gilbey - you only have to look at an onboard from Ardgroom to know just how hard the co-drivers have had to work on this rally.

“A perfect set of pace notes and the best rubber for the job, supplied by Hankook, made my job easy. A huge thanks my sponsors, Delun and everyone involved.

“It was an absolute pleasure to battle with the boys again, they pushed us all the way. We couldn’t rest for a second, and finished up ninth overall, after an incredible 2 hours 23 minutes of rallying.

“We have retaken the lead of Group N in the Irish Tarmac Championship, and look forward the next round, the Donegal International in six weeks’ time.”

Lampeter and District MC’s Meirion Evans and Jonathon Jackson were out in their R5 specification Hyundai i20, and seeded at 12 in the international rally.

After a good start, however, the Hyundai developed power steering issues, resulting in a premature retirement, before rejoining day two under rally two rules. They still managed to finish in 14th position overall, which whilst respectable was not a true reflection of their pace.

In the Historic category, Lampeter’s Llion ‘Tractor’ Williams was navigating for Duncan Williams in his Mk2 Escort. At the end of the first day they held the outright lead after a string of excellent times, and went on to finish an excellent second overall after an event long battle.

They were just 9.3 seconds behind overall Historic Rally winners Alan Ring and Adrian Deasy in their Escort RS Mk2.