Rallying: Donegal International Rally

Despite a shaky start on Friday, three times World Rally champions Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena showed their class yesterday to take a clear victory in the Shell Donegal International Rally, ending the three day event in Letterkenny more than two minutes ahead of the Pirelli Impreza of Global Group Irish Tarmac Championship leaders Mark Higgins and Rory Kennedy.

Their Citroen C4 WRC wasn’t properly set up for Irish tarmac stages at first, and it took a couple of days for the factory team mechanics to fine tune the high technology machine to the limits of the spares they had brought with them, but they certainly gained plenty of information to help in their preparations for November’s World Championship round, Rally Ireland.

Because the French pair are not registered, Higgins and Kennedy collect maximum Tarmac Championship points to extend their lead, but three times champions Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely struggled through various problems with the Reid Motorsport Impreza to take third place, helped by the late retirement of Kevin Lynch’s Focus.

Seamus Leonard and Gerry McVeigh dominated the Group N Production class from start to finish, bringing their Lancer Evo 9 to a remarkable sixth place overall, thanks largely to the high retirement rate among the top seeds in their WRC cars. They were almost three minutes clear of nearest class challengers Mike Curran and Fabian McShane.

The lengthy casualty list included Norwegian teenager Andreas Mikkelsen’s Ford Focus, the Impreza of five times winner Andrew Nesbitt, Stephen Murphy’s similar car, Group N champion Colm Murphy, three times National champion Niall Maguire and many others, with a combination of mechanical problems and driver error.

Despite dreadful weather for the first two days, enormous crowds thronged the stages, attracted by the first ever appearance of a reigning World champion in an Irish rally. When November comes, they will be able to see all his challengers as well as they bid to dethrone the French ace.

Main Results

SHELL DONEGAL INTERNATIONAL RALLY AT LETTERKENNY (ROUND 5 OF GLOBAL GROUP IRISH TARMAC CHAMPIONSHIP):
1 Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4 WRC) 2h 48m 38s,
2 Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 50m 45s,
3 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2h 54m 23s,
4 Paul Harris/Eugene O’Donnell (Toyota Corolla WRC) 2h 59m 14s,
5 Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Subaru Impreza WRC) 3h 01m 34s,
6 Seamus Leonard/Gerry McVeigh (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 3h 05m 00s,
7 Mike Curran/Fabian McShane (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 3h 07m 45s,
8 Sean Devine/Paul McLaughlin (Subaru Impreza WRC) 3h 08m 08s,
9 James Cullen/Allan Harryman (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 Gp N) 3h 08m 38s,
10 Stuart Darcy/Steve Furey (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) 3h 08m 46s.

Group N Production class:
1 Seamus Leonard/Gerry McVeigh,
2 Mike Curran/Fabian McShane,
3 James Cullen/Allan Harryman.

Class winners:
J P Logue/Patrick Durning (Honda Civic),
Eugene Meegan/Stuart Powell (Honda Civic),
Andrew Gamble/Mark Vaughan (Nissan Micra),
Seamus Gallagher/Dan Maguire (Citroen Saxo),
Brian Doherty/Keith Bovaird (Ford Escort Maxi).

NATIONAL EVENT:
1 Phil Collins/Derek Brannigan (Ford Escort) 3h 12m 01s,
2 Damien Gallagher/Mac Walsh (Ford Escort) 3h 14m 23s,
3 Martin McGee/Damian Crawford (Ford Escort) 3h 14m 44s.

HISTORIC RALLY:
1 Mervyn Johnston/Wendy Blackledge (Mini Cooper S) 1h 57m 00s,
2 Niall Creighton/Greg Roberts (Lotus Cortina) 1h 57m 06s,
3 William Todd/Nigel Campbell (Mini Cooper S) 2h 09m 03s.

POST-HISTORIC RALLY:
1 Richard Hall/Sam McMullan (Ford Escort) 1h 51m 28s,
2 Alan Jardine/James McSherry (Ford Escort) 1h 51m 54s,
3 David Craig/Roger Laird (Ford Escort) 1h 53m 17s.

JUNIOR RALLY:
1 Anthony Hand/Rodney Perkins (Ford Escort) 1h 01m 01s,
2 Darren McKenna/Nicola McKenna (Toyota Corolla) 1h 01m 06s,
3 Peter Wilson/Declan Gallagher (Honda Civic) 1h 01m 36s.
Class winners:
Kevin McDaid/Paul McCafferty (Vauxhall Nova),
Damien McCauley/Terence Magee (Toyota Corolla).