Six Hour Ford Fiesta Endurance Race

In a thrilling finish, Donegal sports car ace Damien Faulkner yesterday drove the Southside Motor Factors car to a split-second win in the Six Hour Ford Fiesta Endurance Race at Mondello Park, just six tenths of a second ahead of the first of the Murray Motorsport cars after more than 300 miles of racing.

Faulkner, who does most of his racing overseas, and his team mates Neil Tohill, Gerard Tohill and Keith Dempsey, led briefly during the early laps of the marathon race, but dropped to 17th place at one stage during a pit stop. They worked their way steadily back through the packed field, taking the lead again at the three quarter distance mark.

In the final stint to the chequered flag, the two leading cars duelled all the way, with the lead changing hands several times, but Faulkner got ahead of John Farrelly with nine minutes to the end and stayed there to the finish despite some problems while lapping backmarkers.