Jonathan Pringle claims first rally victory in Donegal
The 35-year-old Cavan driver, who took up rallying just five years ago, was co-driven by Mullingar’s Alan Keena.
They overturned an 8.3-second deficit to claim victory by a margin of 16.6 seconds ahead of Ryan Loughran/James McCarville (Ford Escort), who just managed to stave off a late challenge from the Skoda Fabia S2000 of Joseph McGonigle/Colm Geaney.
Irish national and tarmac champion Donagh Kelly, driving a Mk 1 Ford Escort, won Class 12 and was 18th overall.
The opening stage was lost due to communications problems. With top seed Alastair Fisher ruled out prior to the event and Martin Doherty amongst the non-starters, Frank Wray was first to tackle SS 2, where he set a time of eight minutes 22.6 seconds.
Monaghan’s Gary McPhillips, running next on the road, crashed his Ford Escort on a fast right after a crest. The drivers that were caught in the stage blockage, including Pringle, received Wray’s stage time.
When the stage resumed, that time was beaten by two drivers — local ace Damien Tourish (Escort), who set the best time of eight minutes and 14.3 seconds with Ryan Loughran (Escort) 5.2 seconds further behind in second.
On SS 3 and even though his Escort developed a vibration following a heavy landing over a jump, Pringle set a cracking pace to move into the lead — 4.2 seconds ahead of Loughran, while Tourish bowed out and the stage interrupted time was applied to six drivers.
At the conclusion of SS 4, Pringle’s lead margin was 5.8 seconds as Wray slotted into second, with Loughran 2.7 seconds behind in third. The Skoda Fabia S2000 of Joe McGonigle occupied fourth in a top six completed by the Escorts of Brian Brogan and Damien Gallagher.
On the penultimate stage, Pringle moved ahead but Wray retired, allowing Loughran to regain second place, 16.7 seconds adrift of the leader. McGonigle held third.
Slackening his pace on the final stage, Pringle netted his maiden rally win, Loughran just about held on to second as McGonigle set the best stage time but had to be content with third — four 10ths of a second behind. The Escort trio of Brogan, Gallagher, and Camillus Bradley rounded out the top six.
Pringle said: “It all went well, I’m a bit emotional as it’s my first ever rally win. I didn’t commit as much on the last stage.”
Elsewhere, the Innishannon based Skibbereen 100 Isles Navigation Trial was won by the Togher/Drinagh crew of Donal O’Brien/Denis O’Donovan (Toyota Starlet). They edged out Limerick pair Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors (Subaru) by just one penalty point.
The Longford/Monaghan combination of Pakie Duffy/Evin Hughes (Subaru) were third, to extend their lead in the national series as there was disappointment for their title rivals, the local crew of Leap’s Dermot Whelton and Lisavaird’s Mark McCarthy, who were forced to retire following clutch failure in their Subaru at TP 9.
All of the top contenders were free of penalties until that section near Gurteen Cross — north of Bandon.
The winners also dropped time at the “Plot and Bash” section near Brinny.
Meanwhile, the second placed Shinnors duo also lost time at the same locations along with a time point near Newcestown that proved to be the difference.
National leaders Duffy/Hughes incurred most of their penalties towards the finish. One of the drives of the event was that of the novice duo of West Cork’s Brian O’Mahony/Amy Gallwey (Subaru), who were fourth overall.
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