Early pace satisfies young star Fisher on IRC return

Alastair Fisher said running as high as fourth overall on the Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally earlier this month helped him to recover from the disappointment of his early exit from the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier.

Starting his first IRC round since last October, Fisher impressed with his pace on the opening day of the asphalt rally by challenging for the final podium spot in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 only to retire on Saturday’s first stage after being caught out on a patch of gravel.

“There was a left corner over a crest and some slight gravel on either side of the road,” said the 23-year-old rising star from Northern Ireland. “To be honest, if we had committed to the corner, we would probably have been all right, but because of the gravel I hesitated slightly, the car got a bit loose and we caught the gravel with the back end, which snapped us into the bank, hitting the rear right wheel. That spun us down the road and we clipped the front-left wheel as well. There was panel damage to the bumpers but it was the suspension damage that resulted in our retirement. We were able to drive to the next junction but that was that.”

“We’re a bit disappointed that we missed out on some good mileage,” Fisher continued. “But we have to take pride in where we were overall on Friday night and take the positives from it. We pick up and go on and I would like to thank the M-Sport team for all the hard work they put into the event.”

Fisher will return to the IRC on round six, June’s GEKO Ypres Rally in Belgium.