DUNMANWAY’S Jason McSweeney enjoyed one of his best-ever rally outings on last weekend's Galway International Rally with a start-to-finish victory in the Historic category of the event, a counter in this season's Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

Debuting a Ford Escort WRC and co-driven by Blackpool's Liam Brennan, they finished the 15-stage encounter 18.4 seconds ahead of the Subaru Legacy of Waterford's Ray Breen/Damien Morrissey.

Previously, second overall on the 2017 Westlodge Hotel Fastnet Rally was the highlight of McSweeney's rallying exploits that began over 20 years ago.

Prior to driving a Ford Fiesta Rally2 to ninth place in last October's Fastnet Rally, the Dunmanway driver piloted a Skoda Fabia R5 with mixed results and sometimes hampered with reliability.

While the acquisition of the Ford Escort WRC surprised many, it was the desire to try something different that was the principal reason for change, and it certainly paid dividends.

On the first of Saturday's nine stages McSweeney/Brennan were quickly into the groove and took a 17.9-second lead over the BMW M3 of Welsh ace Adrian Evans with Breen 0.7s further behind. There was no change over the remaining pair of stages of the loop due to stage stoppages and they were credited with nominal times.

On the second loop and having extended his advantage to 20.3 seconds on SS4, Breen cut the deficit to 13.2 seconds. On a tricky closing loop a lead of 21.7 seconds after SS8 was trimmed to 15.7 seconds, as Breen remained his main challenger.

Kilcrohane's Jer O'Donovan and Rosscarbery's Alistair Wyllie aboard their Ford Fiesta R5 during the Corrib Oil Galway International Rally. (Photo: Martin Walsh)

A planned attack on Sunday's first of six stages saw the margin increase to 23.5 seconds. Following its repeat (SS13) McSweeney led by 29.4s seconds and thereafter it was a case of managing his position, which he duly did.

‘I'm absolutely over the moon, it was fantastic, a great way to start the season,’ McSweeney told The Southern Star.

‘We had a good battle with Ray Breen, who didn't make it easy for us.'

He described Sunday's second stage as the most difficult of the rally and the first stage on both days as his best stages.

‘That stage on Sunday was very muddy with a huge number of cuts and everything and that can push you all over the place,’ McSweeney said.

‘Winning the opening stage was great for the confidence, we got a nice jump on everyone and I thought it (the win) was achievable. We did the same on Sunday morning, and that worked out well too and on the last two stages we didn't want to take any chances and pulled back a little bit’'

Their only issue through the two days was with the steering that after turning in seemed to be locking.

‘We managed it and that will be sorted now before the West Cork Rally.’

Results: 1. J. McSweeney/Liam Brennan (Ford Escort WRC) 1h. 57m. 13s; 2. R. Breen/D. Morrissey (Subaru legacy)+18.6s; 3. R. Cunningham/R. Forde (Mini Cooper S)+6m. 48.4s.

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Derry's Callum Devine (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) took a strong victory in the Galway International Rally, which marked the beginning of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

He finished 37.1 seconds ahead of the similar car of Kilkenny's Eddie Doherty with Monaghan's Josh Moffett in a Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, 9.5 seconds further behind in third. Donegal's Michael Boyle, who was in the hunt for second all-through retired his Skoda on the penultimate stage with a mechanical issue.

It was Devine's first victory in Galway and leaves the forthcoming Clonakilty Park West Cork Rally as the only event within the ITRC that he hasn't won.

Certainly, with his start-to-finish victory in Galway, where for the first time in many years the weather on both days was dry, he's certainly laid down a marker in the defence of his Tarmac Championship title.

Clonakilty's David Guest and his Bandon co-driver Stephen Quin slid off on the third stage, resulting in damage to the steering rack and arm. Although they re-joined under Super Rally, they suffered a puncture on SS7 and retired.

Meanwhile, the Macroom/Rossmore crew of Barry O'Brien/Declan Buttimer (Honda Civic) finished seventh in Class 11F as they began a championship bid. They lost over four minutes on the final stage when their car began to misfire half way through the stage.

Lisavaird co-driver Michael White and his Donegal driver Corey Eves (Toyota Corolla) were second in Class 13 during Saturday stages only to slide off on a section of shiny tar. With just superficial damage they were able to re-join the event under Super Rally and finished sixth in class.

Clonakilty's Kevin Kelleher and Enniskeane's Sean Hayde (Ford Escort) were lying sixth in Class 14 during Saturday's stages despite an electrical issue that was traced to a loose wire between the ECU and the paddle shift. Soon after the start of Sunday's opening stage they were forced to retire with a burst oil pipe.

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The Skibbereen ‘100 Isles’ Navigation Trial takes place this Saturday night. Based at the Mart complex in Skibbereen, the event is a counter for the Motorsport Ireland National Navigation Trial Championship and the Munster Navigation Championship. The first car away is at 10pm.