Round 1: Magic Bullet Stages Rally, 19 February

The 2011 Hankook MSA Northern Ireland Stage Rally Championship kicked off on Saturday with the Magic Bullet Stages Rally, which was won by Kenny McKinstry and his co-driver Ian Johnston.

McKinstry battled with reigning champion Stuart Biggerstaff early on until the latter succumbed to engine failure on SS2. Connor McCloskey completed the stage just 0.8 seconds shy of McKinstry’s time, and on the following test went 3.1s quicker to leave the pair just 3.3s apart.

However, the prospect of a close battle for the rally win was lost when an incident further down the field on SS3 necessitated the cancellation of the final part of the event. The times at that point were subsequently declared final, leaving McKinstry victorious ahead of McCloskey and John McGaffin.

Results1 Kenny McKinstry / Ian Johnston (Subaru Impreza WRC) 15m10.1s2 Connor McCloskey / Francis Regan (Subaru Impreza WRC) 15m13.4s3 John McGaffin / Leslie McGaffin (Subaru Impreza WRC) 15m25.0s