Garry Jennings and his co driver Neil Doherty extended their lead on this Topaz Donegal International Rally with a stunningly good time through stage 10, Gartan. With the rain in the Donegal Hills getting progressively worse Jennings shrugged off the conditions and powered his Subaru to a time 15s quicker than his closest rival Darragh O’Riordan. Cork man O’Riordan had a spin in his Subaru that cost them a few seconds. Seamus Leonard in 3rd place had a massive moment on the shiny slippery Gartan road. Omagh man Seamus said. “I was in the ditch full sideways on a 3 left over crest coming down the mountain. It was one of the biggest rally moments I’ve had”. And Seamus has had a few! Derek McGarrity in 4th was quite a few seconds down on the top times. Derek’s Subaru only had one wiper arm working and the screen was misting up as well. His co driver Paul Kiely had the errant wiper down the side of his seat and joked that he was going to try and wipe the inside of the screen mid-stage! Niall Maguire’s co driver Conor Foley said they had a better stage 10 and 9 but they still had a huge moment when the Subaru was flat in 6th over a 2 right and the car filled the road with a huge slide. Aaron MacHale’s Focus was well steamed up when he finished the stage.
Sam Moffett got a junction wrong in stage 10 and lost the GpN lead to his brother Josh. Martin Doherty is lying just outside the l/board and is 3rd GpN. In the National Rally Manus Kelly is setting fastest times this morning and has narrowed the gap to Declan Boyle to just 24s. Callum Guy has dropped a couple of places due to wrong tyre choices. Wesley Patterson was 7th overnight but he has put his Escort off the road on SS9. Daniel McKenna set a time 3s down on Manus Kelly through SS10 and David Bogie had an equal time to Kelly. Both McKenna and Bogie are running in Super Rally.
Finally for now it has been confirmed that Craig Breen’s co driver, 24 year old Welshman Gareth Roberts, has died following the accident on the Targa Florio Rally in Italy. The rally has been abandoned. Gareth was a very special young man. He was a superb co-driver who would have undoubtedly risen to the top echelons of world rallying. He was also immensely popular with everyone. His death defies the written word in its sadness. Our very sincere condolences go to his family and many friends.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL www.rallynews.net
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