RALLY NEWS NO.1 Letterkenny/Friday morning
With rain forecast for this opening day of this Topaz Donegal Rally, it could be a difficult time for the drivers, with the roads on the opening 6 stages, ranging from the Newton Cunningham to Muff area, likely to be very slippery. The day finishes with two runs over the Buncrana spectator stage. As the top drivers gathered at Letterkenny’s An Grianan Theatre for the pre-start formalities, their spirits were still high in anticipation, not only for a good first day run, but looking ahead to the classic Saturday and Sunday stages such as Knockalla, Glen, Atlantic Drive and so on.
Tarmac Championship points leader Darren Gass, with Enda Sherry co-driving in his Subaru, will lead the cars over the start ramp. In theory Gass may have a disadvantage this weekend, in that he has no real high speed experience of the specialised Donegal stages. However, such has been Armagh man Darren’s form this season, winning the Galway and Circuit of Ireland rallies, that his podium chances can not be underestimated. At No.2 is Darragh O’Riordan, 3rd here last year in his Subaru, and he too has shown flashes of brilliance this season. Darragh has Derry man Tony McDaid co-driving, and what wouldn’t it mean to him if the pair were to clinch victory here. At 3 is Garry Jennings, always a favourite with the Donegal spectators. He’s in at the deep end a bit as well, as he has to switch on to an Impreza WRC S14 for the first time. He did a bit of testing earlier this week, and it went well. However Garry is the first to admit that Donegal stages, possibly in the wet, could be a different ball game.
No.4 was to have been Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy, but unfortunately they couldn’t make it. So, it’s Derek McGarrity/Paul Kiely next up, in the winning Subaru from last year. For McGarrity, this could be his chance for victory on just about the only major rally in Ireland he hasn’t won. Niall Maguire, with Conor Foley co-driving rounds off the top half dozen.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg. The rally has a wonderful variety of top cars and drivers. The battle between the top Mk2 Escort men, drivers of the calibre of Daniel McKenna, Declan Boyle, Manus Kelly, Wesley Patterson, Brian Brogan and a whole lot more should be heroic. A very welcome competitor in the modified section, up against all the top Escort men, is Scottish Champion David Bogie, with Paul Beaton co-driving in his fabulous Metro 6R4. Billy Coleman Award winner Sam Moffett is the top GpN seed in his Lancer. Moffett, from Monaghan, is sure to come under severe pressure from Letterkenny man Conor Harvey. Indeed there are many more drivers in GpN cars who are sure to be pushing hard, including Formula 1 pundit Tony Jardine, with top motorsport journalist and author Maurice Hamilton co-driving.
Further non-starters, besides Mark Higgins, include Simon Maugher (NO.19): Rodney Wilton (20): John McQuaid (32). Slotted in amongst the top entries are Frank Kelly (136), PJ McDermott who has Paul Goodman co-driving in the Garry Jennings’ Lancer runs with 47 on the car and slotted in behind Trevor & Kenny Bustard. Josh Moffett (133) also runs in the top 30. Ivan Stewart (143) comes in behind Russell Woods and Martin Doherty (139) also comes into the top 40. Peter Barrable swells the Citroen Racing Trophy ranks to 5 cars and has Paddy Robinson in his C2R2 running with the number 147 but slotted in behind car 44.
On day two of the rally the Historic section joins in, and then on day three the Junior drivers get their chance. Top seeds in the Historics are Donal Connolly and John Keatley in their Escorts. The Junior section top two seeds are Damien Whoriskey (Escort) and Kevin McLaughlin (Civic).
In overall terms possibly the biggest challenge this weekend for Clerk of the Course Eamonn McGee and all the hard working organising team, is to run a safe as well as an enjoyable rally. On the safety front, we can only hope that everyone plays their part.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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