Rally News No.10 Rochestown Hotel Sunday 6.00pm

Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage 14

1^st (3) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O’Gorman (Impreza WRC) 2.06.30

2^nd (5) Tim McNulty/Eugene O’Donnell (Subaru WRC) 2.10.47

3^rd (6) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Impreza WRC) 2.10.52

4^th (8) Denis Cronin/Helen Sullivan (Celica) 2.12.27

5^th (10) Tony Davies/Jakes Kelly (Impreza WRC) 2.12.50

6^th (1) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 2.13.22

7^th (17) Willie Fannin/Mick Courtney (Impreza N) 2.14.52

8^th (21) James O’Sullivan/Brian Duggan ( Lancer N) 2.14.56

9^th (24) Paddy White/Aidan Moran (Impreza WRC) 2.16.38

10^th (31) Tadag Linehan/Tony Linehan (Impreza N) 2.20.13

In a dramatic final stage development Derek McGarrity has won this years Cork 20 International Rally and secured the 2004 Pirelli Tarmac Championship. Eugene Donnelly had held a nine second lead going into the final stage but in an almost unprecedented event, the rally leader who was running second on the road, encountered rocks, nails and a piece of timber with pop rivets lying in the road. Donnelly had no chance and crashed the Kingspan Corolla out of the rally lead. Both Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely are uninjured but they remain at the scene of the accident while an investigation is initiated.

Tim McNulty takes the runner up spot with one of the finest drives of his career. Tim and co driver Eugene O’Donnell led from the very start of the rally, a string of fastest times enabling them to build up a lead of almost a minute, but a small error on the penultimate stage saw the Pierse crew lose five minutes when they got stuck in a ditch. Liam McCarthy and rally sponsor Kieran Murphy have finished an impressive third on their debut in the McKinstry Subaru. The crew struggled a little today in the wet conditions but had build up enough of an advantage to secure their position. Willie Fannin takes the GpN award after a fantastic rally long battle with James O’Sullivan, just four seconds separating this great fight.

Phil Collins completely dominated the modified section of the rally. The Welshman would almost certainly have finished seventh overall had he been included in the main rally, and he comes home almost ten minutes ahead of David James and Jim Crowe. In the Historic rally Aidran Kermode had a healthy lead over Frank Cunningham while Todd Falvey was leading the Post Historics in his Porsche from Martin Ward.

Finally for now congratulations to Frank O’Mahony and his dedicated team from Munster Motorcycle and Car Club on a superbly run Cork 20 rally and a big thank you to all those who supported and helped with the Rally News service. Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd