WHAT appeared to be a cracking entry for Sunday’s Kilkenny-based Suirway Farm Machinery Raven’s Rock Rally, the fifth round of the Dunlop National Rally Championship, has been decimated by a series of withdrawals.

FROM a season where little went wrong, culminating with victory in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge for Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle, the current defence of their crown is proving almost the total opposite.