Day 3 of this Topaz Donegal Rally and overnight leader Garry Jennings made his intentions clear through the opening Sunday test, Glen, by winning the stage by 15s from his closest rival Darragh O’Riordan. Darren Gass was actually 2nd fastest as he continues to claw his way up the leaderboard. At stage finish Garry said. “We are all on slick dry weather tyres and the rain poured down for the first 5 or 6 kms. It was very slippy, very difficult”. Darragh O’Riordan said that he had a terrible stage, just couldn’t get going. Seamus Leonard in 3rd reported a good run but he is keeping a weather eye out for Derek McGarrity in 4th whom he reckons will make a charge over today’s classic stages. Donagh Kelly managed to hold on to his 5th place despite his Subaru suffering a puncture. Conor Harvey was lying 3rd in GpN but he seems to be running very late now and unconfirmed reports suggest his Lancer has suffered a puncture and is stopped in the Glen stage. Josh Moffett continues to lead GpN and was 1s faster than his big brother Sam through Glen. Kieran Daly was fastest of the Citroens, 2s up on Kevin O’Connor but O’Connor still leads. Joe McGonigle is up to 14th in his Clio.
In the National Rally Manus Kelly set the fastest time 4s up on category leader Declan Boyle. This reduces the gap at the front to 20s. Boyle felt that he had picked too hard a compound tyre and was not getting the grip that he expected. Callum Duffy is running is Super Rally and he spun his Escort in Glen village., The replacement diff in his car is much too low geared.
Rallying enthusiasm knows no bounds. Last year Daniel Lucey made the trip from Millstreet here to Donegal to compete in his Corolla. He retired 200 yards from the finish of the final stage at Buncrana. Daniel went off to Australia and worked driving a truck just to get enough money to return to the Donegal Rally. 28 year old Daniel is currently lying 26th o/a. Lets hope he finishes this time! Armagh’s Declan Hall inverted his Corolla on a stage yesterday and the Scrutineers gave him permission to have the windscreen replaced on his Toyota early this morning so that he could continue in the rally.
Some overnight class places include: Declan Leonard in his Fiesta leads cl.1 from Paddy McDaid (Civic). Cl.2 is composed mainly of the Citroens; Kevin O’Connor leads from Kieran Daly with Peter Barrable 3rd. Joe McGonigle continues his learning curve in his newly acquired Clio R3 and is on his own in class 3. Cl.4 is for the GpN machinery with Josh Moffett leading his big brother Sam by just over 3s. Conor Harvey is 3rd and Martin Doherty 4th. Pat Kirk is 5th. PJ McDermott 6th and Formula 1 commentator Tony Jardine, with Maurice Hamilton co-driving is 7th. They are having a fantastically enjoyable time in their hired Raymond Mason Lancer. In the Historic Rally that is divided into many sub-classes Andy Johnson (Chevette HSR) has a 27s lead over John Keatley (Escort).
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL www.rallynews.net
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