Continuing his 100% record in this year’s Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge, Daniel Barry from Eniskerry, together with his co-driver Martin Brady from Navan, recorded his second victory in as many events at this weekend’s round two of the Mitsubishi series, the Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally.

The result sees Daniel and Martin increase their lead in the highly competitive Evolution Challenge, plus fourth place in the rally overall puts them at the top of the Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship standings, ahead of crews campaigning more-powerful WRC cars.

The Jedburgh-based rally utilised the eastern side of the infamous Kielder Forest, regarded in the rally-world as one of the toughest places to compete. Proceedings kicked-off with two stages on Friday evening, organisers spicing things up by including a night-time leg for the very first time on this event.

Daniel was fastest of the Evo Challenge crews on the first stage, setting a time quick enough to take second place overall. Main Mitsubishi rivals Simon Hughes/Craig Parry were second, just 3.7 seconds behind, but they shot into the Evo Challenge lead by 2.9 seconds after the second stage, the Irish 24-year old admitting his driving was a bit ragged and he had lost time going sideways too often on the loose gravel.

Saturday dawned dry, cool and bright – perfect rallying conditions - for the five stages that lay ahead. Hi rival maintained his slim advantage on the first stage of the morning but then momentarily visited a ditch in SS4 and Daniel regained the lead.

After the first service halt crews tackled the longest stage of the rally: 15 miles in Harwood Forest. Daniel was now flying – even with no clutch for the last 3.7 miles due to a broken joint on the master cylinder. But for Simon Hughes it was a different story, when he out-braked himself going into a chicane and, with a 10-second penalty for hitting the cones marking the man-made obstacle, he came away with a 40-second deficit for collecting all four of them.

Daniel now was almost a minute ahead but it nearly all went wrong on the road section to SS6 when the car’s fuel pump cut-out. Luckily, he and Martin were able to switch to the spare and they got going again, but not before a few worrying moments.

Albeit a little flustered by the delay – which did not affect their all-important stage times – Daniel drove well through the final two stages, taking the fastest production class times in the process. His performance not only rewarded him with his second Evolution Challenge victory of the season, but also a win in Group N and an overall position of fourth. This result sees him now lead the Mitsubishi series by four points and puts him at the top of the table for the Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship.

At the finish Daniel said: “It’s never easy! We had a few problems so I’m relieved to get to the finish and especially pleased to take my second victory in the Evo Challenge. I feel that we needed to win this weekend, as we may not be so lucky on other events as things can get tougher from here on. I must therefore thank the team for making sure the car was fixed without a problem and that it performed so well.”

The next event in Daniel’s calendar sees a return to Kielder Forest - but this time the western side – when he contests round three of the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge and the second round of the British Rally Championship, the Pirelli Tour of Cumbria, which takes place on 17th & 18th April.

Daniel’s 2009 campaign is supported by: Tech-Plus, Irish Shipping and Transport, BPI Telecom and SC Signs.