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RALLY NEWS NO.15
Letterkenny Finish - Sunday 5.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 22 Atlantic Dr. (final stage)
1st (2) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 2.32.46
2nd (3) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 2.34.09
3rd (4) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 2.34.54
4th (5) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 2.36.06
5th (7) Peadar Hurson/Ian Porter (Impreza WRC) 2.36.42
6th (8) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza WRC) 2.37.46
7th (11) Seamus Leonard/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza N) 2.42.19
8th (14) Roy White/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 2.44.32
9th (19) Glenn Allen/John Gallagher (Escort WRC) 2.44.49
10th (37) Kevin Lynch/Martin McNicholl (Impreza WRC) 2.45.12
For Andrew Nesbitt this is his 4th Shell Donegal International Rally victory,
and judging by the Armagh man's expression it is just as sweet as his first.
When current Tarmac Champion Andrew brought his Pirelli shod Subaru to a halt at
the end of Atlantic Drive he was ecstatic when he commented "Once again
another great Donegal Rally, even the sun kept coming out and the pace was very
hot. It has been fantastic to win again. Thanks to my co driver James O'Brien
and Kenny McKinstry for giving me a great car as well as everyone else who made
it all possible". Eugene Donnelly was whooping with delight when he
brought his Impreza WRC over the line, commenting "I'm delighted and
thrilled to finish 2nd in Donegal, its absolutely fantastic. The car was great,
Niall Maguire will have to come to Maghera to get it back". Circuit
of Ireland winner Derek McGarrity had suspension difficulties today on his way
to 3rd place. Derek explaining "We think the suspension is set too hard,
the correct units are in Paddy White's car. Still, we had a pretty good rally
and its good to get the Tarmac championship points".
Following a day of some fairly major dramas with Paul Harris and Austin MacHale
crashing out of the rally the last few stages were fairly uneventful for most.
Seamus Leonard had a brilliant rally to win GpN. This really was a superb
performance in his new Subaru. Roy White in his Lancer gave Seamus a hard
battle all the way but his Lancer has developed centre differential problems
going into the final stage, and Roy will be happy if the car makes it back to
the Letterkenny finish. Its fingers crossed that the Tipperary man
holds on to 2nd in gpN ahead of Neil McCance. Unofficially we have Neil
finishing 11th overall. Young Michael Curran 12th and 3rd in gpN which is a
great result for him.
Philip Shaw is in 13th place and co driven by Derek Brannigan, the highest
placed of the modified cars. Letterkenny's Ivan Stewart is 14th and should win
class 15 from Scottish visitor Philip Walker in his Mazda. Aaron MacHale
is 15th in his gpN Lancer, then its Conor Curley, 2nd in class to Philip Shaw
with Robbie Peoples 17th and 3rd in class to Shaw. Pat Bonar finishes in
22nd in his Escort and should win cl.12 from Brian Durnien. We mentioned Paddy
White earlier - he had a fairly traumatic rally at times, but got his act
together well to come up to 20th overall. English visitor Dermot Hanafin, a
relative newcomer to the sport finishes 23rd in his gpN Impreza. Finally
for now, many thanks to all who helped and supported our RallyNews service and
very well done to Declan and Matt at the top of the Donegal MC organising team.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
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