Alastair Fisher is hoping a good points scoring finish on this weekend’s West Cork Rally will kick start his challenge for the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.

A disappointing seventh placed finish on the opening round in Galway has left the Fermanagh driver scrambling to haul in the early leaders, but he is hoping the Clonakilty based rally will boost his chances.

“We have to try to get our championship up and going and we need to be in for a good haul of points, and get some good mileage under our belts in the car,” said Fisher, who will once again drive a Polo R5.

“We need to get confidence built up and get up to speed, so I’m hoping the weather will play ball and allow us to get a better feel for the car and allow us to approach the stages with more commitment than in Galway, which was a tricky start to the season with the way the conditions were.

“The car has a really good base setting and has huge potential. It’s just a case of getting dialled into it and getting everything else working around it. We need to learn the capabilities of the car, but that can only be done with time.”

The opening round of the championship was dominated by the Hyundai of Josh Moffett, with Meirion Evans and Callum Devine completing the top three in Galway, and Alastair expects his main challenge in Galway to come from the same trio.

“Josh Moffett and the Hyundai seemed very good on the fast stages in Galway,” admitted Fisher.

“That is where Josh got the jump on everybody else, and West Cork is a fast event. It is 220 kilometres, and the roads are as challenging as anywhere, so it is an event where you have to be very committed.

“The roads are very fast and flowing and the surface is changeable with inland roads and coastal roads, so there are a lot of variations of type of stage and conditions are changeable at this time of the year.

“I think Callum and Meirion will be strong as well. It is so close now. Everyone is trying to take the last tenth out of it, and everyone is gunning for it.”

Brian Hoy contested Galway with Callum Devine but he is sitting this rally out due to his commitments with Jon Armstrong, while Garry Jennings has this week withdrawn his entry from the event.

The Kesh driver is sitting fourth overall in the Tarmac Championship standings after Galway.

The packed entry of 200 cars start the event on Saturday morning and cover 14 stages over St Patrick’s weekend, with the winner crowned on Sunday evening.