3 days ago
- Automotive
- Belfast Telegraph
I'll be back to defend my crown, vows new Northern Ireland Stages Rally king Aaron McLaughlin
The County Donegal man opted to miss a family wedding in the hope of securing the title with a round of the national series to spare — and he delivered with a top-three points-scoring finish.
McLaughlin becomes only the second person from south of the border to add his name to the Association of Northern Ireland Car Clubs (ANICC) trophy; Monaghan's Stephen Wright was the first Irishman to achieve the feat back in 2019 after winning a tie-break from Derek McGarrity.
McLaughlin was forced to do it the hard way, however, having to recover from a disastrous start at the Loughgall Stages that involved a costly off-road moment in his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5.
Fastest times on the next five short, sharp tests through Loughgall Country Park quickly pushed him up the leaderboard, yet despite his speed he was unable to usurp the naturally aspirated Proton Satria Neo of Marty Toner, with the pair separated by less than two seconds at the finish.
'I have never had Championship and Aaron McLaughlin in the one sentence, so the feeling is pretty good — we have never won a title or anything like that before. We are absolutely over the moon,' said McLaughlin, who made a quick exit from Loughgall so he could attend the wedding after party.
'We had a bit of a disaster on the opening stage but we managed to claw our way back up the leaderboard and found ourselves in a huge battle with Marty right until the day's very last stage.
'We gave it everything to try and get back in front of him but we just couldn't make up any more than three seconds a stage each time. Losing 15 on the first one left us pretty far back and making that up here was always going to be a really big ask, but at least we can say we tried.
'It was small margins at the end but I could not have lost to a better man. Marty and the entire team are sound men, so I have no complaints about who the overall win went to,' he continued.
'It would have been nice to win the rally and the Championship on the same day but we have no complaints — we achieved what we set out to do and already the plan is to return next year and defend our title. It is a great competition and, logistically, one-day rallies just work for me.'
Armagh's Jason Black was once again in mesmerising form at the controls of his 2.5-litre, rear-wheel-drive Toyota Starlet as he delighted his local supporters by coming home in third place.
