2001 Punchestown World Rally Masters

Following the successful running of the Punchestown Rally Masters earlier in the year, the Punchestown World Rally Masters took things to another level in the height of summer. Richard Burns (who would be crowned 2001 World Rally Champion) and Freddy Loix arrived with their factory supported works cars while former World Champion Miki Biasion also arrived. The big names carried a number of high profile passengers including international sporting stars and TV personalities and were purely out for the fun of it. The top local drivers however, having being starved of competition due to Foot and Mouth Disease, were all gunning for glory. Austin McHale and Andrew Nesbitt proved to be the class of the field and with nothing to separate them at the end of the day they were declared joint winners of the event.