IN the midst of a nine-week competitive sojourn in the Porsche Carrera Cup Great Britain calendar, Ballygurteen’s Michael Keohane is maintaining his fitness with 10km road races across West Cork, local gym sessions and test sessions with Century Motorsport including this week at Thruxton.

Recent runs in the Dunmanway and Courtmacsherry 10km races formed part of his fitness programme.

‘Strength is a big thing really with the Porsche because it has no power steering,’ Keohane said after he finished his latest 10k in Courtmacsherry on Friday night.‘Working in the gym and running a few road races is good. I have Shannon Vale and Kinsale coming up, and they fit nicely into my free weekends.

‘It's nice to get out. I've run some of them for years now and it's become a tradition.’

In the lead up to the Courtmacsherry 10k, the Ballygurteen driver had a test session at the Croft circuit where he will race in early September and also raced in his time in Formula 3.

‘The circuit hasn't changed much but the Porsche is very different there. It's bumpy, physically demanding and much bigger than a Formula 3 car.

‘It's difficult to put together consistent lap times because it's so tricky.’

‘We were happy enough with our times, Carl Cavers, who's leading the Masters class was very, very quick all day. But we ended up about two tenths faster than him in the last session and fifth overall.

‘But that shows there's nothing in it really, it's definitely the closest championship I've ever done time-wise and the calibre of the drivers; from first to 12th is just huge.'

***

Clonakilty's Cal McCarthy (Citroen C3 Rally2) will compete in Saturday's Loughgall Rally in Armagh, round three of the Northern Ireland Rally Championship.

With regular co-driver Eric Calnan unavailable, Bandon's Stephen Quin will deputise.

McCarthy is seeded at number eight in the event that has Armagh's Marty Toner (Ford Fiesta Rally2) as the top seed. McCarthy's car is prepared and run by DGM (David Greer Motorsport) in Carryduff, a relatively short journey from the rally location.

It will be McCarthy's first time competing in the popular event that features two stages repeated three times.

‘I think it is always nice to try something different, you get to meet different organising clubs and people, there's no pressure, it's enjoyment,’ he said.

‘I am also planning to compete in a few more rallies. There's a new event in Downpatrick called Rallye Lecale, run by the Ballynahinch and District Motor Club at the end of the month and then there's the Ulster Rally and the Down Rally.’

McCarthy's last outing was at the Manx National Rally in early May where he finished fourth overall.

Also, Barryroe co-driver Dylan Doonan accompanies Dungannon's Barry Morris (Darrian T90 GTR).

***

Moved from its traditional November date, the Rose Hotel Kerry Summer Mini Stages Rally takes place on Sunday. It will consist of a triple run over two stages, Mount Eagle and Headley's Bridge.

Rosscarbery's Jason O'Mahony/Alistair Wyllie (Ford Escort) are the top local crew; they are seeded at No. 14. Other locals on the entry list are Macroom's Barry O'Brien (Honda Civic), The Pike's Diarmuid Keohane (Ford Escort), Lyre's Tim O'Donovan (Toyota Corolla), Bantry's Noel Hurley (Mitsubishi Lancer E4), Glandore's Pat Calnan (Ford Fiesta), Skibbereen's Fergus Hurley (Ford Escort) and Patrick Calnan (Honda Civic), Drimoleague's Gary Lordan (Honda Civic) and Rory Hennessy (Ford Escort) and Dunmanway's Finbarr Hurley (Peugeot 106 GTi).

A number of local co-drivers are also competing – Clondrohid's Iarla McCarthy, Ballyvourney's Meabh Griffin and Bandon's Daniel Seaman are the respective co-drivers for Killarney's Todd Falvey (Ford Escort RS1800), Laois driver Mark Martley (Talbot Sunbeam) and Killarney's Colin O'Meara (Peugeot 208 R2).

***

In the fourth round of the Motorsport Ireland National Kart Championships at Whiteriver, County Louth, Clonakilty's Ronan Hennessy finished seventh in the IAME X30Senior category. He qualified sixth with a lap time of 49.903 seconds, a mere 0.096s behind pole-sitter Aaron Murphy. The race was won by Naas karter Jack Buckley, a grandson of Banteer rally driver Jer Buckley, who had a winning time of 11 minutes and 59.051 seconds for the 14-lap, 16.20km race. Hennessy crossed the line 7.052 seconds behind. His best lap was 50.534 seconds.