Rally reports
Ford Fiesta R5 driver survives two spins to take top spot on Donegal Harvest Rally
Organiser: Donegal Motor Club When: October 12 Where: Redcastle, Co. Donegal Championships: Sligo Pallets Border Rally Championship, Donegal Commercials Club Championship Stages: 9 Starters: 115.
Callum Devine took his first ever overall rally win after he and co-driver Brian Hoy led from start-to-finish on the
Donegal Harvest Rally.
The Ford Fiesta R5 driver survived two spins to finish 25 seconds ahead of Donagh Kelly, in his new Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 for the first time.
“It’s been a brilliant year,” said Devine. “It’s nice to get the win at the end. Cork [‘20’ International] was hard on us so we’re absolutely delighted.”
Devine started the day perfectly with fastest times on the opening two stages to build a gap of 9.2s. His closest challenger Josh Moffett lost five seconds on the second stage, Coolcross, after spinning his Polo GTI R5 and Kelly lost time to both when he stalled at the start of the same stage.
Devine slipped back into Moffett’s grasp after an overshoot on the shortened Bailey’s stage, finishing the opening loop of stages just 3.5s ahead. The mistakes were representative of Saturday morning’s greasy conditions.
After rebuilding his lead on SS4, Devine then spun on the same Coolcross hairpin as Moffett had that morning. Going into the final service Moffett had reduced the gap to Devine to 2.8s.
“When we spun on stage five we couldn’t find reverse,” explained Devine. “Then on stage six we were on a harder tyre and the rain was coming down that hard we couldn’t see the 3-2-1 boards.”
Kelly remained in third position, admitting he felt more comfortable in the Polo than the Skoda Fabia
R5 he had used earlier in the year.
Local driver Joseph Mcgonigle was pushing for a podium position in his Mini as a road-penalty left him 7.4s behind Kelly.
As the crews prepared to leave service for the final three stages, the clouds looked threatening and tyre choice became a real predicament. Coolcross was to be the undoing again for Moffett as he spun on the penultimate stage, albeit on a different corner, which he described as like driving on ice. While Moffett’s mistake dropped him to fourth at the finish, Devine kept his cool on the final stage to take the victory.
Mcgonigle’s fightback continued with a fastest time on the final stage but he fell short of Kelly by just half a second.
Kevin Gallagher finished an impressive fifth in his Darrian T90, beating modified rival Kevin Eves to class 14 honours.
Results
1 Callum Devine/ Brian Hoy (Ford Fiesta R5) 45m52.7s; 2 Donagh Kelly/ Conor Foley (VW Polo GTI R5) +25.6s; 3 Joseph Mcgonigle/ Ciaran Geaney (BMW Mini WRC); 4 Josh Moffett/andy Hayes
(Polo GTI R5); 5 Kevin Gallagher/ Ger Conway (Darrian T90); 6 Aaron Mclaughlin/ Darren Curran (Fiesta R5); 7 Kevin Eves/ Chris Melly (Toyota Corolla); 8 Damian Toner/ Denver Rafferty (Ford Escort Mk2); 9 Damien Gallagher/ Mac Walsh (Escort Mk2); 10 Martin Mcgee/ Kevin Kearney (Escort Mk2).
Class winners: Keith Ewing/shane Barry (Honda Civic); Adrian Cannon/aidan Gannon (Civic); Alistair Glenn/andrew Gillespie (Mitsubishi Lancer E9); Moffett/ Hayes; Martin Cairns/ Paul Ward (Fiesta WRC); Patrick Fitzpatrick/james Mceneaney (Escort Mk2); Mickey Brennan/ Paddy Mcgague (Vauxhall Nova); Brian Lavelle/ Piaras O’ceallachain (Civic); Christy Gallagher/lee Cullen (Toyota Starlet); Michael Mcdaid/ Daire Maguire (Escort Mk2); Raymond Conlon/ Damien Fleming (Corolla); Gallagher/ Conway; Jack Brunton/ Darragh Kelly (Civic); Neil Brogan/ Niall Campbell
(Civic); Ivan Warwick/claire Rodgers (Audi quattro);
Anthony Cairns/ Mark Preston (Subaru Impreza).