McKinstry bidding to complete an unique hat-trick
The former Irish Tarmac champion has won the Cork '20' International Rally on two occasions in 1991 and 1994, both in Subaru Legacy's. His Fastnet Rally wins came in 1984 (Ford Escort) and more recently, last October in a Subaru WRC. With support from Ryan's of Innishannon, Kenny, who will drive a P2000 Subaru WRC, is expected to be the pacesetter over the 16 stage event.
Commenting on his competitive return to an event where his best result was second in 1984, he remarked "It's something different for me, I may possibly compete in other rounds of the Get Connected Championship as the season progresses.
"I would expect the main challenge to come from Eamonn Boland, Melvyn Evans, Donal O'Donovan, Bob Fowden and Michael Barrable. They are all potential winners and have a lot of experience. I'll certainly give it a go and try as hard as I can.
"Should I win, that would just be very handy and make this end of the country pretty complete, so I'll give it a whirl. I'm here to win but if I don't there's no big deal."
Top seed and last year's winner, Melvyn Evans will debut a Subaru WRC and may take time to acclimatise. Eamonn Boland, with his impressive finish in the Monte Carlo, starts behind the Welshman with McKinstry completing a Subaru top three.
Local ace, Donal O'Donovan, will campaign his Jimmy Barry Motors Toyota Celica ST185. He remains the only West Cork driver to have won in Clonakilty and although his Toyota has a disadvantage in the technology stakes, he is still expected to be in the frame. Bob Fowden's Group N Mitsubishi will also be expected to be amongst that ilk while Steve Fleck (Subaru WRC) may have more difficulty in repeating the exploits that saw him claim second overall last year.
Michael Barrable, second in last week's Mayo Rally in Ballina and Liam McCarthy (Toyota Corolla WRC), are others that have designs on victory in a top ten that also features Pete Doughty (Subaru) and Denis Cronin (BMW M3). A regular in the tarmac series, Maurice Gass can expect to improve on his position as will David Armstrong.
Others in the entry are Tommy Graham (Subaru), Phil Collins (Escort) and the Subarus of J.J. Fleming, Nigel Hicklin and Barry Coleman. Tomorrow's loop of stages that begin at 11.15 are at Ring, Timoleague, Kilcolman and Shanaway with servicing in Clonakilty.
Sunday's stages also begin with a classic, Rathbarry and also include Sam's Cross, Castletown and Shannon Vale.
Elsewhere tomorrow, Derek McGarrity and Eugene Donnelly are the top entries for the second round of the Northern Ireland Rally Championship in Bishopscourt and John Price heads the entry for the Tour of Epynt, the first round of the National Macadam series that features the Escort WRC of Steve Hendy.
Next week's Rally of Wales is cancelled due to a lack of entries. The event was the first round of the Pirelli British Rally Championship, BRC Licensing Limited (BRCL), the organiser and promoter of the Pirelli British Rally Championship (PBRC) were dismayed at the cancellation only 25 entries for the International category were received.
The championship will now begin with the Pirelli International Rally on April 25/26. Meanwhile, it also appears that the West 2003 Rally, the final round of the 2003 Irish Tarmac Championship scheduled for the beginning of November has also been cancelled.
The format for the World Rallymasters in Punchestown next July will be similar to the Race of Champions with two cars on track at the same time. The organisers are in discussions with a number of drivers including legend, Ari Vatanen. As the build up to the 2003 British F3 Championship continues, American driver, Richard Antinucci, headed the official times in testing at Rockingham earlier this week. His Carlin Motorsport team mate Alan van der Merwe was second quickest. Rob Austin (Menu F3) broke the domination of the Carlin outfit that was completed by Jamie Green and Ronnie Bremer, who set fourth and fifth best times. Michael Keohane (Sweeney Racing) missed the test as Lola engineers were modifying the rear suspension.
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