RALLY NEWS NO.1 Dingle Skellig Hotel/Sunday morning 08.30

This Skellig Hotel based Circuit of Kerry Rally has a brilliant entry, packed with top rally names and state of the art cars. The event is round 2 of the Dunlop National Championship, which virtually guarantees a top line-up. In addition there are some drivers here to ‘shake down’ new cars, and there are some as well who just want to sample the classic roads of the Dingle peninsula, as well as the hospitality. In addition the rally is a counter of the Top Part West Coast Championship, which adds an extra dimension to the proceedings.

Ray Breen is the current Dunlop National Champion and is due to lead the cars away in his Focus WRC, while Charlie Donnelly, current Dunlop Championship points leader following his win in Mayo, is at 2 in his Corolla WRC. Tim McNulty, winner of the Cork ‘20’, is at 3 in his fabulous new Impreza WRC S11, Patrick Elliott is at 4 and former National Champion Niall Maguire at 5 in their respective Subarus, with Glenn Allen rounding off the top half dozen in his Corolla WRC. That’s just a taster of this strong entry. Tim McNulty remarked about his new Subaru, “It seems a great car, I’m very happy with it. We’ve had some testing, but that’s not the same as actual rally conditions, and the idea is to get it set up for the Circuit.” Tim went on to say that he is not registering for the National Championship, in fact directly the opposite, he wants to let ‘the National boys do their own thing!’ Niall Maguire has had the engine in his Subaru overhauled, Charlie Donnelly says he is running the ‘sharp engine, as used by his brother Eugene, while Ray Breen and Glenn Allen report their machines in top order.

Michael Barrable at 7 is having his 2nd run in his Focus WRC. On his first run with the car, in West Cork, Michael really came on the pace. He had a test in the car yesterday at Fuhiry, and is delighted with the set up, introduced a few tweaks in West Cork and is very hopeful of a top result. JJ Fleming is at 8, or hopefully will start at 8, his Focus WRC giving some problem with the differential yesterday and a new part was being flown in last night. Martin Doherty in his Subaru and Aaron McHale in his Corolla WRC round off the top ten. Aaron has been testing his Corolla, stiffening up the suspension, and has a new co-driver this time in the shape of Eugene O’Donnell. Noel Redmond at 11 has, in company with McNulty, got one of these fabulous new Impreza WRC S11’s and debuts it here in Dingle. It’s remarkable really, there are less than a handful of these cars in private hands in the world, and two of them are here in Dingle. That’s quite a treat for the Subaru fans! Jack Sleator has switched from a Skoda to an Impreza`S9, the Circuit of Ireland winning car from last year.

As well as World Rally Cars, there’s a fantastic turn-out of GpN machinery here, with Clonakilty’s Kevin Keller starting at 14 in his Lancer and heading the pack. Just some of the drivers who will be battling for GpN supremacy include former GpN champion Willie Fannin in his Subaru, Alan Ring, Gabriel Martin and Tadgh Lenihan all in Imprezas. The latter’s Bio-Tech backed example has been up-graded to N12 engine specification. Further top GpN Lancer men include Andrew Stewart, young Ian Barrett, Graham Quinn, James Stafford and Kevin O’Donoghue. The two wheel drive machinery, spearheaded by Mike Quinn in his Escort and Maurice Moffett in his Starlet provide their own class of excitement. Even the ‘00’ cars are interesting – Ger McCarthy and his daughter Michelle are in a red Lancia Stratos, while Johnny O’Sullivan is testing new suspension in his Escort WRC.

Further changes to entry include Paddy Robinson sitting with Andrew Stewart at 17. John Kilmurray with Jack Sleator. Alan Keena with Daragh Raftery. Non starters include car 39 Ed O’Callaghan. Car 40 Eamonn Hughes and 41 Liam Wall. Martin Brady is with Paul Elliott in his new Lancer. David McNulty has been reseeded, has 42 on his Escort Cosworth but runs behind Jack Sleator. Some of the drivers in from the reserves include Tadgh Buckley in his Peugeot 106 and Martin Sheehan in his Starlet. David Roe has moved up the order has 114 on his Civic but starts behind car 84.

Clerk of the Course Donal Lynch has decided to shorten the 2nd stage by just over a mile from the start, because of mud on the road. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net