Crash denies Matt Donegal win and puts crew in hospital
NORTH Walian driver Matt EDWARDS made an explosive maiden appearance on the Donegal International Rally, only to retire from the lead of the event just four stages from the end of the three-day event.
Matt had taken a 19.2 second lead going into SS17, which was the first run over the famous Atlantic Drive stage, when his Pirelli-shod Citroën C3 R5 left the road – the cause not yet determined.
Whilst the car stood up to the fifth-gear incident extremely well, and the emergency procedures were carried out to perfection, Matt sustained a couple of fractured ribs and his co-driver David Moynihan suffered rib, shoulder and hip injuries.
Both were kept in hospital overnight as a precaution with both set to be discharged yesterday.
It was a sad end to a magnificent outing, made all the more remarkable by the fact that it was Colwyn Bay driver Matt’s first rally in a fourwheel drive car since he’d won the 2021 British title on the Ulster Rally in a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 seven months ago.
Matt’s first appearance on the 20 stage, 187 stage mile Donegal started well, with second fastest time over the opening Dooish Hill stage, just 7.5 seconds adrift of Callum Devine/Noel O’Sullivan (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5).
The stages dried much more than expected on Friday afternoon’s second loop, with Matt recording his first fastest stage time on the repeat run through Dooish Hill.
He was then an impressive 2.9 seconds faster than anyone else over the day’s sixth and final Mouldy Hill stage to go into the first overnight halt in second position, just 5.8 seconds behind Devine.
Matt reduced the gap to 5.6 seconds
with another fastest time on Saturday’s opening Carnhill stage.
Unfortunately, a half-spin at a junction in Knockalla (SS9) cost him 20 seconds – and whilst he maintained second place, the gap to the leader was now 27.7 seconds.
Thereafter Matt drove superbly to claw back lost time – all on stages that he had never competed on before. He set two more fastest stage times (SS11/12), which helped him reduce the gap to 17.7 seconds by the end of day two.
Matt took the lead of the event on Sunday’s opening stage, Gartan (SS15), when Devine retired after hitting a hay bale chicane.
With High Glen (SS16) cancelled, Matt took a 19.2 second lead into the famous Atlantic Drive test (SS17).
In another dramatic turn of events, he damaged his Citroën C3 R5 near the start of the stage, forcing him into instant retirement as well.
“Because of the amount of time we’ve been out of an R5 car and the Citroën being new to me, we weren’t really expecting to be in the fight for victory in Donegal,” said Matt.
“In just two weeks we’d gone from not having a deal to tackling the opening stage of the Donegal International for the first time.
“It was nice to get that feeling back of driving an R5 car after seven months away from competing at this level.
“We were looking forward to having our first run over the Atlantic Drive stage, but we didn’t get around a fast left-hand corner early in the stage.
“We haven’t determined the cause yet, but we left the road in fifth gear and that was our rally over.
“All the safety equipment built into the car did its job and the event’s emergency procedure worked perfectly. I’m just very disappointed that our Donegal Rally ended with both David and myself in hospital.
“Nevertheless, the Donegal Rally was an amazing experience. I’d love to come back one day and finish the job off properly.”