Dramatic victory for Boyle

On his debut in a recently acquired S12B Subaru World Rally Car, Donegal’s Declan Boyle took a dramatic victory in the Mor Oil Galway Summer Rally, round four of the Top Part West Coast Rally Championship.

Boyle’s victory came after fellow countyman and long-time leader, Donagh Kelly slid his Subaru out of the rally on the ninth and final stage.

Galway’s JJ Fleming (Ford Focus WRC) was two minutes and seven seconds behind in second place with Donegal’s Declan Gallagher (Toyota Starlet) a further 30 seconds behind in third.

On the first stage, Kelly led Boyle by three seconds with Kerry’s, Thomas Fitzmaurice (Subaru WRC) eleven seconds off top spot after a spin. The modified cars of Eamonn Dervan (Escort), Chris Armstrong (Escort) and Declan Gallagher (Starlet) were next.

Fitzmaurice slid into a field on the second stage, but his car was undamaged. By the time he had managed to finish the stage he had exceeded maximum lateness.

Kelly was also quickest on the second and third stages and arrived at the service halt with a 19 second lead over Boyle with Dervan 18 seconds further behind and six seconds clear of both Gallagher and Armstrong, who shared fourth place. Fleming, who spun on the opening test, was sixth.

On S.S. 4, the margin between the duo was reduced to four seconds, however, Kelly had the upper hand through the remaining pair of stages and extended his advantage over Boyle by 24 seconds. Armstrong was a minute and 21 seconds further behind followed by Gallagher, Fleming and Dervan.

On S.S. 7, Boyle clawed back four seconds but Kelly put 20 seconds between them prior to the final stage. However, it all went awry as he slid out of the rally and Boyle went on to take his maiden win in a World Rally Car.

Fleming was a distant second with Gallagher netting the final spot on the podium. Armstrong was another final stage and his demise promoted local driver, Eamonn Dervan to fifth and victory in Class 13. Elsewhere, Cork driver, Stephen Carey (Honda Civic) had an untroubled run to claim eighth overall and victory in Class 3.

Meanwhile, Sebastien Loeb (Citroen) won the ADAC Rallye Deutschland for a ninth time after he finished over two minutes ahead of Jari Matti Latvala (Ford Fiesta) in the ninth round of the World Rally Championship.

Loeb powered his way through Saturday’s opening loop of three stages after his rivals hit trouble. On the opening stage (S.S.7) he actually doubled his lead to some 40 seconds. Petter Solberg and his Irish co-driver, Chris Patterson were just one of a number of crews to fall victim to the demanding stages in the Baumholder military area. Their Ford Fiesta hit a rock on S.S. 9 and damaged the rear suspension.

Loeb was quickest on all three stages in the morning while Ford’s protégé, Ott Tanak was quickest on stages ten and eleven only crash out on the day’s final stage where he took a rear wheel off his Fiesta. Loeb ended the day with a lead of one minute and 42.9 seconds over Jari Matti Latvala, who was down in fifth place at one point. Mads Ostberg (Ford Fiesta) held fourth overnight. Having worked his way up to third, Dani Sordo dropped to sixth with a puncture, unfortunately, his Prodrive-run MINI John Cooper Works WRC stopped on the final stage with a loss of cooling fluid following an off road excursion, he was able to re-join the rally on the final leg under Rally2.

Yesterday, Loeb went on to claim victory and extend his lead in the WRC to 54 points. Jari Matti Latvala (Ford Fiesta) took second place with Hirvonen (Citroen) third.

Solberg, who ran under Rally2 regulations, finished eleventh, but still claimed points for the team in the manufacturers’ series, the Norwegian was quickest on one of the day’s three stages.

Meanwhile, in the FIA WRC Academy, Welsh driver, Elfyn Evans took his third straight victory of the season. He ran out a convincing winner – a minute and 9.9 seconds of Spaniard, Jose Suarez. Alastair Fisher seemed set to take fourth with a number of fastest stage times, however, he stopped on the final stage when his Ford Fiesta R2 stuck in first gear. With just two rounds remaining, Evans has a 35-point lead.

Ivor McCullough (Van Diemen RF101) recorded a brace of wins in the Formula Ford 1600 at Kirkistown on Saturday and Lee Newsome won the Formula Vee race.