Boland Seeks Global Title at Manx
Wexford business rally driver Eamonn Boland has the chance to clinch the Global Irish championship next weekend (17-19 July) at Rally Isle of Man, the asphalt event traditionally known as the "Manx". It is not only the third round of the British rally championship, in which World Rally Cars are excluded, but also the fifth of the Global Group Irish Tarmac series which admit WRCars. Hopes of British drivers of featuring on this event are unusually high, however, given that Boland is the only top Irish driver entered on the event. Guy Wilks comes back to British to drive a specially prepared Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX for the British importers' team after his regular car was destroyed by fire on the Jim Clark Rally. Since then he has been competing in Russia with the Italian Honda JAS team's R3 Civic. His two main rivals on the rally are expected to be the Higgins brothers, both in Subarus: Mark with an N11 and David in an N14. Wilks' teammate Philip Morrow has his usual Lancer Evo IX rebuilt after his accident on the Jim Clark Rally. The only Super 2000 is expected to be the MG ZR of Stuart Jones' who is currently lying second in the series behind David Higgins. Mark is the only driver on the Manx with a theoretical chance of denying Boland his title.

Victory for Sordo/Martí on the O.K. Auto-Ralli
The entry of Dani Sordo/Marc Martí on the 29th O.K. Auto-Ralli proved extremely positive, with the Spanish pair winning the event outright and profiting from the opportunity to gain extra experience of the Finnish terrain at the wheel of their Citroën C4 WRC. At the same time, it provided Citroën Sport with some very fruitful feedback. The one-day O.K. Auto-Ralli, which was based in the Kouvola region to the southeast of Jyväskylä, was the fifth round of the national championship. The eight gravel stages on the menu totalled 92km and were generally faster than those featured on Finland's WRC round which is due to start on July 29.
O.K. Auto-Ralli – final positions:
1. D. Sordo/M. Martí               Citroën C4         44m 56.2s
2. J. Salo/M. Stenberg             Mitsubishi Lancer  +1m 20.9s
3. J. Ketomaa/M. Teiskonen         Subaru Impreza     +1m 31.4s
4. K. Katajamäki/L. Hirvijärvi     Mitsubishi Lancer  +2m 13.2s
5. J. Hiltunen/J. Kalliolepo       Ford Focus         +2m 18.4s

Sanchez Bows Out
Four times Codasur champion Roberto Sanchez has raced his final rally. He announced his retirement from rally driving career at the Tucuman Rally, fourth round of this year's Argentine national championship, based at his home town in the north of the country. One final delight which eluded him, however. He had been leading the rally until two stages to go when he punctured and finally finished third, 12.4 seconds behind the winner. 41 years old Sanchez had been a long time Subaru driver who seldom ventured beyond Argentina. His best foreign result was tenth and second Group N on the 2000 world championship Safari Rally in Kenya, a feat immortalised for an unfortunate reason. He had unwittingly baulked the Peugeot driver Gilles Panizzi and was then physically assaulted at the next time control. Winner of the Tucuman Rally was Tango Team leader Marcos Ligato (Mitsubishi) who beat the Subaru Impreza N14 cars of Claudio Menzi and Sanchez. Because of his conflicting Munchi's team commitments the championship leader Federico Villagra did not contest this event. Villagra's teammate Luciano Bernardi now equals Federico's points total, with Sanchez bowing out while in third place in the series.

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