The event was finely poised for six of the nine stages, but a few mistakes by his rivals towards the finish saw Maguire record a comfortable win and open a twenty points advantage in the Dunlop series over Cahal Arthurs, who was fourth in the event.

On the closing loop, Maguire consolidated his lead as his rivals hit trouble. Elliott looked to have lost second place with a time consuming spin on the penultimate stage.

However, Arthurs stalled his Hyundai on the start line of the final stage on no fewer than three occasions. To add to his woes, he collected a 30 second penalty for hitting a chicane.

That allowed Elliott net second, his first finish in three rounds of the Dunlop series.

Jim Harrison made a late charge and it duly netted him third spot and 16 valuable Dunlop points. He was a mere second ahead of Arthurs, who had to be content with fourth place.

Kevin Lynch (Subaru) was fifth and Gabriel Martin (Mitsubishi) took a fine victory in the showroom category.

The top ten also featured Kevin Barrett (Subaru WRC), second placed Group N driver, Willie Fannin (Subaru) and the Escorts of Pat Donegan and Camillus Bradley.

1. N. Maguire/P. McLaughlin (Subaru WRC) 1h. 03m. 47s

2. P. Elliott/D. Moynihan (Subaru WRC) 1h. 04m. 54s

3. J. Harrison/H. Bell (Subaru WRC) 1h. 05m. 01s

4. C. Arthurs/J. Kelly (Hyundai Accent WRC) 1h. 05m. 02s

5. K. Lynch/F. O'Regan (Subaru WRC) 1h. 05m. 09s

6. G. Martin/M. Kane (Mitsubishi) 1h. 06m. 42s

7. K. Barrett/B. Goodman (Subaru WRC) 1h. 07m. 23s

8. W. Fannin/R. Price (Subaru) 1h. 07m. 47s

9. P. Donegan/D. Garvey (Escort) 1h. 07m. 51s

10. C. Bradley/C. O'Neill (Escort) 1h. 09m. 33s.