By Paul Evans

Meirion Evans has finished fourth in the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, after scoring maximum points on the final round of the series, the Cork 20 International Rally.

Having crashed out of the lead of the Rali Bae Ceredigion, Evans’ The Scan Station-backed Škoda Fabia R5 had been repaired by the family-run Melvyn Evans Motorsport team in time for its final championship trip of the year across the Irish Sea.

Co-driven by Jonathan Jackson, the Lampeter driver was third after a wet and slippery day one in Cork, happy to be in contention for a top result in such difficult conditions. Evans pushed hard on day two, finishing behind event winners Marty McCormack/Barney Mitchell (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5), who were not registered for Irish Championship points.

“We’d targeted this event as it was the only round we’d done before and we fought tooth and nail with Marty [McCormack] and Barney [Mitchell] for the win and ultimately fell short by some eighteen seconds after two hundred kilometres of rallying in extremely tricky weather. We are really starting to feel at one with the Škoda,” said Evans. “Thanks to The Scan Station, Michelin, Dad, Gwyndaf, Seamus and of course JJ on the notes. It was a great team effort to get the car there in the first place and then to pull this result off!”