RALLY NEWS NO.1 Letterkenny - Friday 10.30am

This is the 32nd running of the Donegal International Rally, over 20 years with the backing of Shell, and the event has lost none of its buzz. Andrew Nesbitt, in a new S9 Subaru, leads the 151 starters away for 20 stages over 3 days, with over 20 Historic cars joining the fray on Saturday. Behind Nesbitt is Austin MacHale, Derek McGarrity and Eugene Donnelly, lead players in the Pirelli Tarmac Championship, of which this is round 3. Interestingly, Andrew Nesbitt has registered for the series, although this is his first Tarmac Championship event this year. This is a brand new Impreza WRC S9 that Andrew is driving, and although he has only had a short test drive in it he is very impressed with the new car. "It was wet when we were doing the test so it wasn't really a full power job. So its hard to tell if its any faster than the S8 we drove before. But it has more electronics for the diffs, hopefully it will work out well. I expect it will take a few stages to settle down, but it's the last stage that counts, not the first!" Last year Andrew was in much the same situation, was 8th after the first stage, and ended up winning in a very impressive manner once again. 

Shaun Gallagher is listed at No.3 in a Subaru WRC, but is in fact driving a Super 1600 Saxo, and will run 20th on the road. Eugene Donnelly has had a fair bit of work done to his Corolla WRC, and although a test session planned for last Monday lunchtime had to be put off because of a faulty gearbox sensor, Eugene is fairly confident that the car will be good here in Donegal. 

There are several non-starters from the original published list. Peadar Hurson, Donie O'Sullivan, Mark Higgins, Ollie O'Donovan and Niall McShea are all missing from the top 20. Re-seeds include Matthew Wilson, running with 39 on his Focus WRC, slotted in between Tim McNulty (14) and Seamus Leonard (17). Just behind Seamus is Dessie Keenan (27) and then Maurice Gass (26), 12th and 13th on the road. George Tracey (28), with Killian Duffy co driving in his fabulous Peugeot 206 WRC, has been moved up into the top 20. 

Just some of the highlights of the rally will include the battle for Group N honours, and the race for best 2-wheel-drive and modified cars. Seamus Leonard is the highest seeded GpN driver, in the very latest model Impreza N10. He will face stiff opposition from the likes of Dessie Keenan, Aaron MacHale and Cahal Rogers, with Paul McLaughlin co driivng, Willie Fannin, Colm Murphy, Seamus Heron and Dermot Hanafin in the FtizSamuel Insurance Impreza. Making a welcome return to the stages in a Subaru is Willie John Dolan, and he has Channel 4 Sports presenter John Desborough on the pace notes. In the Modified part of the rally Phil Collins is the top seed in his Escort, Phil saying before the start "Another adrenalin fix!" Behind Phil is John Dalton in his Darrian and then former winner of the rally, James Cullen, in a Bobby King Porsche 911 - which should be interesting!. Another previous winner is of course Cahal Curley and he runs at No.65, with Austin Frazer once again in the hot seat of his Ford Escort. Cahal's son Conor had a last minute drama with his Escort. The engine just wouldn't run properly last night, and John Reid from Plymouth who built the engine, jumped on a plane, landed here in Donegal and sorted the problem in about 2 minutes with the help of a lap top. Even Mk2's can't escape modern technology. Lots more stories from service. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net