FOR FIESTA MAN DONNELLY MAKES IT A VICTORY DOUBLE WITH SUCCESS IN THE FIVEMILETOWN FOREST

Mark Donnelly made it two victories in the space of six days by leading the field home on the Fivemiletown Rally, the opening round of the Northern Ireland Forest Rally Challenge.

Donnelly secured victory by 1.7 seconds with Stephen O’Hanlon alongside to add to the success they enjoyed on the Killarney Forestry Rally the previous weekend in their Ford Fiesta R5.

A blistering start for 31-yearold Donnelly was halted by a spin and then a stall on the third stage before he lost further ground to an overshoot on stage four, the morning loop’s final timed run.

That helped to bunch the event’s top seeds right up and meant an initially cautious Vivian Hamill sat just 0,3s behind Donnelly in his Volkswagen Polo GTI R5, with Niall Mimnagh a further half second off first position in another Ford Fiesta R5.

The afternoon’s action was much closer and despite beginning the deciding test with a 0.1s buffer, a rapid time through the 2.24-miles of Doon 2 was enough to hand the win to Donnelly.

The battle for the runner-up spot was also decided over the closing miles of the rally, with Mimnagh managing to leapfrog Hamill courtesy of his first scratch time of the day.

In the two-wheel-drive category Marty McCormack survived clipping a chicane in his historicFord Escort Mk2 to triumph from Alan Smyth’s modern equivalent by 4.7s. Results

Where: Fivemiletown, County Tyrone Organising Club: Omagh Motor Club When: February 25 Championship: Northern Ireland Stage Rally Gravel Challenge Stages: Starters: 68

1 Mark Donnelly/Stephen O’Hanlon (Ford Fiesta R5) 26m34.5s; 2 Gareth Mimnagh/J Barry McCarney (Ford Fiesta R5) +1.7s; 3 Vivian Hamill/Andrew Grennan (Volkswagen Polo GTi R5); 4 Conor McCourt/Caolan

McKenna (Ford Fiesta Rally2); 5 Niall McCullagh/Ryan McCloskey (Ford Fiesta Rally2); 6 Ryan Caldwell/Shane Byrne (Skoda Fabia R5); 7 David Condell/Michael Coady (Ford Fiesta R5); 8 Derek Mackarel/Emmet Sherry (Mitsubishi Lancer E9); 9 Stephen Dickson/Dermot McCafferty (Ford Fiesta R5); 10 Paul Britton/Peter Ward (Subaru Impreza N16).

Class winners: Marty McCormack/Barney Mitchell (Ford Escort Mk2); Drew Chambers/Wendy Blackledge (Peugeot 206 GTi); Ryan McCanney/Conor McGurren (Vauxhall Nova); Ruairi Maguire/Grace O’Brien (Vauxhall Corsa); Brian Dunlop/Aine McGuigan (Ford Escort Mk2); Shane McGirr/ Denver Rafferty (Lada Riva); Alan Smyth/Arthur Kierans (Ford Escort Mk2); Mackarel/Sherry; Damian O’Hagan/ Shane O’Hagan (Mitsubishi Lancer E9); Donnelly/O’Hanlon.