Gass burns off rivals in Galway International

Armagh’s Darren Gass (23) and his Monaghan co-driver, Enda Sherry in their S10 Subaru took a thrilling victory in the Safety Direct Galway International Rally, the opening round of the Irish Tarmac Championship.

They took the lead on the penultimate stage but had to survive a late challenge from Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (MINI WRC), who finished just 1.3 seconds behind. Early leaders and defending champions, Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Subaru) had to be content with third – just 6.4 seconds off top spot — after suspension trouble.

McNulty in his CFS Construction backed Subaru WRC made a great start, fastest on the opening stage, the spectator test at the Dyke Road was quickly followed with top times on the stages around Headford. Although the Historic competitors completed service stage four, it was cancelled for the International and Modified crews due to organisational difficulties.

At the service halt in Headford, McNulty seemed in complete control, he led Donnelly 22. 3 seconds with Gass in third – 12.2 seconds further adrift. Gareth MacHale, who picked the wrong tyres, slotted his Ford Focus into fourth from the Mitsubishi of Garry Jennings, who led Group N.

The Subaru S14s of Daragh O’Riordan and Derek McGarrity were next. Alan Ring had a short lived event, his Mitsubishi caught the grass verge on stage two and slid against a pillar that knocked the rear wheel off.

The second loop of stages was full of incident — Gareth MacHale (Ford Focus WRC) collected two punctures and was forced to retire; rally leader McNulty hit a chicane damaging the suspension; Donnelly arrived at the stage finish with little rubber on the rear left wheel.

Yet, McNulty retained the lead, 22.3 seconds ahead of Gass with Donnelly a further 22.8 seconds behind in third. Concerns grew in the McNulty camp when they was no replacement wish bone, however, his service crew carried out some temporary repairs that allowed him to continue. On stages eight and nine he lost time to his rivals. Gass took the lead, 9.2 seconds ahead of McNulty with Donnelly 7.9 seconds further behind.

A somewhat slightly nervous Gass went on to take victory, however, Donnelly made a sensational charge to clinch second – a mere 1.3 seconds behind and 5.1 seconds ahead of defending champion, McNulty.

Fourth-placed Garry Jennings in a Mitsubishi was impressive, he survived a brief off road excursion to take a decisive victory in the showroom category.

Antrim’s Derek McGarrity, who switched to a Subaru S14, punctured on the second loop, he was fifth. Midleton’s, Daragh O’Riordan, in the hired Peter Lloyd Subaru S14, made several suspension adjustments to try and get the car suitable for the Galway roads, he finished sixth.

The top ten also included Sam Moffett (Mitsubishi) and Donagh Kelly, also in a Mitsubishi. Kerry’s Thomas Fitzmaurice on his debut in a Subaru WRC, was ninth and Josh Moffett (Mitsubishi) was tenth.

The Modified category was won by Donegal’s Declan Boyle (Escort) he finished 2.5 seconds ahead of Galway’s, Tom Flaherty, also in an Escort.

Ernie Graham (Escort) topped the time sheets in the Historic section and the Junior category was won by Damien Boyle (Honda Civic).

Elsewhere, Craig Breen crashed out on the fifth stage of Rally Finnskog in Norway. The Waterford driver, using the rally as a shakedown for this week Rally Sweden, had his Kel-Tech backed Ford Fiesta S2000 in eighth position after four stages, the halfway point of the rally. Breen hit a snow bank, damaged the suspension and was unable to continue. The rally was won by Mikko Hirvonen (Citroen DS3), who finished 30.5 seconds ahead of the Mitsubishi of Henning Solberg. Mads Ostberg (Ford Fiesta S2000) was third.

The Timoleague-based Skibbereen 100 Isles Navigation Trial resulted in a tie between the Subaru pair of Michael Carbin/Evin Hughes and Alan Shinnors/George Shinnors both of whom finished with zero penalties.