Gass closes in on Tarmac title finish line
In terms of the three Cork rallies and the Rally of the Lakes in Killarney, O’Riordan is in a rich vein of form. Since he won in Killarney in 2011, he has racked up wins in last year’s Cork ‘20’, the Fastnet, this year’s West Cork and Killarney once more.
“I had a test in the car on Wednesday and all went well,” said O’Riordan, who outlined his strategy. “I’ll drive my own rally, I’m out of the Tarmac Championship title equation so I can enjoy the event. Winning any rally is a challenge, my confidence isn’t great as I didn’t have a good run in Donegal or Ulster.”
In terms of the Tarmac series, Gass, who began his ‘recce’ yesterday, doesn’t have to win the rally to claim the title. Even if Jennings wins and secures the maximum 30 points available, a top-four finish for Gass would suffice with a bonus point from the 3-2-1 points sequence for the top three fastest through each leg.
Meanwhile, Jennings is facing a race against the clock to actually acquire a Subaru WRC for his bid and may not even start, in which case Gass will be champion before the event begins.
While the top three are regulars in the Tarmac series, Denis Cronin has had a torrid time recently due to a series of niggling issues with his Subaru WRC. Now those glitches have been ironed out and the Ballylickey ace, a winner in Killarney in 2010, returns to the fray.
Having acquired the ex-Tim McNulty, Irish Tarmac and Dunlop Championship-winning S12B Subaru WRC after the Ulster Rally, where it was driven by Derek McGarrity, Donegal’s Declan Boyle will find the two-day event hugely beneficial in acclimatising to the car.
Clonakilty’s Kevin Kelleher, another recent convert to a Subaru WRC, has withdrawn his entry.
Meanwhile, another Donegal ace, Donagh Kelly, will continue his acclimatisation to the Subaru WRC.
Reigning Billy Coleman Award winner Sam Moffett is within sight of claiming the Group N Tarmac title, while the battle between Clonmel’s Roy White (MG ZR) and Tyrone’s Frank Kelly, who has Cork’s Liam Brennan as co-driver in the Mk. 2 Escort, should be intriguing.
Current Irish Forest Rally champion Owen Murphy (Mitsubishi) is involved in a tyre development exercise with Yokohama, while other entries in the showroom include the Mitsubishi pair of Brendan Cumiskey and Willie Mavitty and Brian O’Keeffe (Subaru). In the classes, the likes of Jason Ryan (Honda Civic), Allen Treacy (Toyota Corolla) and Denis Moynihan (Ford Escort) all go.
The rally will also determine the outcome of the Citroen Racing Trophy Ireland series with series leader Kevin O’Connor of Limerick needing a top-four points finish to secure the title.
Tomorrow’s opening pair of stages, Cobbler’s Cross and Lissarda are repeated again before a double run over Killnamartyra and Lough Allua in the afternoon. The service park is at the Macroom Business Park, Hartnett’s Cross.
On Sunday, with the Cork Racecourse as the service area, the loop of three stages, Glantane, Moll Carthy’s Bridge and Castlemagnier, are repeated twice. The rally finishes at the Silver Springs Moran Hotel at 4.50pm.
Elsewhere, Craig Breen (Fiesta S2000), fresh from taking maximum points in the WRC S2000 category in Rally GB, is intent on closing the 10-point deficit to series leader PG Andersson on Rallye de France that concludes on Sunday.
It will be his first tarmac outing in the Fiesta S2000 car since Monte Carlo.
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