2010 Galway Rally - 1st overall Gareth McHale. Photo: Roy Dempster (www.roydempster.com)

Gareth MacHale scored a rather comfortable victory, in his Ford Focus WRC06, on the Safety Direct Galway International Rally, which formed the opening round of the 2010 Citroen Irish Tarmac Rally Championsip.

The Dubliner was able to control the event during the second day after rivals Cronin and McNulty hit problems early on, and win the event by 1m 43s from star of the rally Craig Breen.

MacHale told rallynews.net at the finish: “A great rally. It was there for me to lose. We put a bit of a push on towards the end to set fastest time.”

2010 Galway Rally - 2nd overall Craig Breen. Photo: Roy Dempster

Breen had a sensational debut in his Ford Fiesta S2000, posting two fastest stage times and finishing second overall. The result sets the Waterford driver up nicely for his planned assault on this year's British championship which starts in March.

Aaron MacHale brought his 05 Focus home in third place after a titanic battle with the Mitsubishi of Alastair Fisher, who was beaten into fourth spot by the Dubliner on the final stage. Kevin Barrett rounded out the top five in his Subaru Impreza WRC S11.

2010 Galway Rally - 4th overall Alastair Fisher. Photo: Roy Dempster

Tim McNulty, a pre-event favourite, had been swapping seconds with Gareth MacHale during day one, but a puncture on stage six ended his hopes of victory and he was forced to retire from the event on SS13 with gearbox woes afflicting the Impreza S12B.

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2010 Galway Rally - Gareth McHale, Austin McHale & Brian Murphy. Photo: Roy Dempster (www.roydempster.com)

SAFETY DIRECT GALWAY INTERNATIONAL RALLY RESULTS
1. Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (IRL) Ford Focus RS WRC 06 2:13.55,3
2. Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (IRL/GB) Ford Fiesta S2000 +1.43,0
3. Aaron MacHale/Eugene O'Donnell (IRL/GB) Ford Focus RS WRC 05 +3.20,8
4. Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (GB) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +3.26,0
5. Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (IRL) Subaru Impreza WRC S11 +5.43,2
6. Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (IRL) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +9.06,3
7. Mike Bird/Kevin Keane (IRL) Subaru Impreza WRC S7 +11.47,2
8. Eamon Daly/Anthony O'Connaill (IRL) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +12.37,0
9. Sam Moffett/James O'Reilly (IRL) Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX +13.23,2
10. Conor Harvey/Gerard Callaghan (IRL) Honda Civic Type-R R3 +14.02,8

2010 Galway Rally - Daniel McKenna National winner. Photo: Roy Dempster

2010 Galway Rally - Martin Ward 1st historic. Photo: Roy Dempster

2010 Galway Rally - Robert Barrable 1st C2R2. Photo: Roy Dempster

2010 Galway Rally - Stephen Wright 1st FST. Photo: Roy Dempster (www.roydempster.com)

Similar Posts:

• Galway International Rally 2010: Day 1 Results & Video: MacHale leads, Breen stars
• Photographs & Video Clips from the Galway International Rally
• Galway International Rally 2009 Day 2 results, photos and videos: Eugene Donnelly wins in the Digiprintz backed Skoda Fabia WRC

About the Author

Scott Coursey is the editor-in-chief of RallyBuzz.com and can be found on Twitter or on Facebook