BALLYGURTEEN’S Michael Keohane (Century Motorsport) had his most successful outing of the season in the Porsche Carwow Carrera Cup Great Britain series at Thruxton on Sunday.

The former single seater racing ace took a victory and a second place in the Master's category from the two races – the first time in four race weekends that he was on the podium after both races.

It was also his first win since his maiden victory in the series that came in Brands Hatch in May.

On Saturday morning’s qualifying session Keohane was stripped of his best lap times for exceeding track limits at the Hampshire circuit, considered to be one of the fastest circuits in Britain.

‘Yes, that was disappointing but you have to get over these things fast, you can’t dwell on it,’ he commented.

While Friday’s practice went well, qualifying is key.

‘Nailing that one special lap is what it's all about. The track limits is a visual process, but when you are pushing so hard and to the limit, you have to be on it. Looking back, I had two really good lap times, but that's the way it goes sometimes.’

Carl Cavers had a best lap of 1:13.248 while Keohane’s best times – 1:12.708 and 1:13.263 – were both ruled out due to exceeding track limits leaving his other time, 1:33.465, as his official qualifying time from the 15-minute session.

For both of Sunday’s races Keohane began behind his Century Motorsport team-mate Cavers.

‘It's a hard circuit to overtake another car and as I said previously, the Porsche is a very wide car.’

In the opening race, Keohane played the waiting game, biding his time before making a move on Cavers, which he achieved near Church Corner on Lap 13 of the 22-lap race.

‘I was lining him up for a few laps,’ he explained.

‘I got a run on him out of Church (corner) and up into the last chicane and I got around the outside of him, but it was tight.'

Unknowingly during the race, Keohane had incurred a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits and although he took the chequered flag ahead of Cavers, the addition of the penalty saw him lose out by a mere 0.268s.

‘I actually wasn't aware that I had picked up the five-second penalty. Had I known, I would have pushed on and made up the time in the remaining laps.’

In the second race Keohane made the move on Cavers during the opening lap and went on to take his second outright Master's victory.

‘Carl had good pace and once I got ahead I adopted a defensive mode and made sure I wasn’t going to incur a track limit penalty. For the remainder of the race I thought about how I won races in Formula Opel and Formula 3. I suppose the race was very tactical from my perspective. It's a quick track and the speeds are massive.'

By the finish of both races, the tyres on the Keohane Readymix liveried Porsche were well worn.

‘The circuit was very abrasive, the rear left tyre pressure was way up. Given the speeds are so high and with the pressure going up it is easy to make a mistake.'

Keohane's next championship outing is in Donington Park (August 23rd) for rounds nine and ten that will take place on the GP circuit as opposed to the national circuit where the series began last April. The teams have a test day at the circuit today (Thursday).

Michael Keohane celebrates his win in the Masters category. (Photo: Jakob Ebrey)

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In rallying, Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) finished sixth in the Carryduff Forklift Rallye Lecale in Downpatrick on Saturday.

McCarthy, co-driven by Strabane's Peter Ward, was seventh after the opening stage but then lost time when his Clonakilty Park Hotel/Carbery Plastics liveried Citroen C3 Rally2 punctured on SS2. He dropped to 31st.

He went on to set four top-five stage times to take sixth overall. His next outing will be at the Down Rally on August 22nd.

‘The second stage was just over five miles and there was no point in stopping to change the wheel. We finished the stage on the rim,’ McCarthy said.

‘We had a good run otherwise, it all worked well with Peter (Ward) who is an experienced co-driver. It took a bit of time to get into it as it was my first event since May and rallying is all about seat time.

‘We had four top five times after the puncture. The car worked well, no issues. I have a lot more confidence in the car on the fast sections.'

Victory went to Carryduff's Jonny Greer (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), who also clinched the Northern Ireland Rally Championship for a sixth time. At the completion of the day's six stages they finished 54.1s ahead of their title rivals Monaghan's Sam Moffett/Pierce O'Callaghan (Hyundai i20 N Rally2).

Meanwhile, Ballylickey's Daniel Cronin (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) competes in Sunday's rescheduled Monaghan Rally, round five of the Triton Showers National Rally Championship. He will be co-driven by Padraig O'Donovan from Ladysbridge. They are seeded at number eight.

Last week, they made a late decision to contest the Tour of Epynt in Wales.

‘We were sixth on the opening stage but punctured on the next stage when I clipped a kerb after running wide and the impact broke the rear right wheel rim,’ Cronin said.

‘On the Sunday morning, we probably went on a tyre that was too hard. It started to rain. We had a big spin on the second last stage and got stuck. Then we were running well back and caught a few cars.

‘The fuel pump packed up on the road back and while we were able to sort it, we had gone over lateness and didn't feature in the results.

‘It was a good test and I am more confident with the car now, especially with the braking and in the fast corners, so hopefully we will be competitive in Monaghan.'

This year's national series is being led by Monaghan's Josh Moffett (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2). He's the top seed on Sunday with his main championship rival, Longford's Shane Quinn (Ford Fiesta Rally2), also amongst the capacity entry. Currently, Moffett leads Quinn by seven points.