William Mavitty has moved further ahead in the Group N Irish Tarmac Championship after claiming maximum points on the Easter Stages Rally in Ballyclare. The Enniskillen driver trailed in the early stages after struggling with tyre choice, but soon powered clear of his rivals to win his class and finish 16th overall. Added to his victory on the opening round in Galway, he now holds a commanding lead in the series.
“Tyre choice was the hardest thing all day on Friday and it was a bit of a lottery,” said William. “I’d say out of the six stages on Friday I was on the right tyres for maybe two of them. It was the same for everybody, but it was just trying to find a good safe pace. I had the wrong tyres on for the first loop. It was very tricky and the bale chicanes were extremely tight for my car and there was so many of them. It didn’t make things handy. 
“After the first two stages Liam McFall took 12 seconds out of me on the second stage and was ten ahead of me going into the first service, but when I got the wets on then we pulled it all back again and went into the next service 19 up on him. 
“Saturday was a bit more straight forward because the road was drying and we were able to pick a slick and get on with it.”
By the time day two dawned the Mitsubishi driver had established a comfortable advantage, and with no car issues he was able to cruise to a convincing class win.
The series takes a short break before the next round in Killarney, and William admits he would love to be among the starting crews if he can sort out the budget for the rally. 
“These three rallies are very close and have put a lot of stress on the pocket,” he said. “We are trying to weight up what needs to be done to the car, but thankfully we don’t have any damage to repair. If I go I will probably do minimal work to the car. If we are to go to Donegal the car needs to be in tip top condition for it, so if we go to Killarney we will probably try to go the way she is and then give her a rebuild for Donegal that would hopefully see it through to the end of the season.”