DONEGAL MOTOR CLUB members are gearing up for the final event of the year this weekend, the Rentokil Killarney Historic Rally.
151 cars compete in the event, with plenty of Donegal interest.
Irish Tarmac Champion Donagh Kelly swaps the WRC Focus for a MK1 Escort for Killarney, in en event made up entirely of Historic of Modified cars. Frosses native Kelly has Monaghan man Conor Foley calling his notes.
The Flying Milkman from Ardara, Declan Gallagher, goes again in the Starlet (pictured above). It has been quite the year for Gallagher and his co-driver, Ryan Moore, with the Tarmac and National Modified titles already in the bag and they’ll look to finish the year off on a good note in Killarney.
Glenfin’s Damian Tourish goes in a MK2 Escort having had some fine runs of late, while Bundoran’s Iarla Carthy has taken the Mini to several successes in Historic Rallies.
Johnny Jordan from Inver had a good run in Wexford and will be aiming for more of the same this weekend while Leonard Craig, an Ardara native, will be gunning for a 1600 win in the Starlet having been pleased with his performance in the Harvest Stages.
Dungloe’s John Bonner and Leon Jordan impressed in Cork and Clare and are in action in Killarney.
It isn’t just drivers from Donegal in action. Letterkenny man Johnny Baird sits with Wesley Patterson, while Loretta Kelly calls the notes for Cathal Sheridan in the Nova and Gary McElhinney sits shotgun with Alistair Cochrane.
Top seed is Northern Irish driver Ryan Barrett, and his local co-driver Diarmuid Lynch in their Ford Escort Mk2. Barrett has never won in Kerry but is a British Historic Rally Championship front-runner and former winner of the classic section of Rally Isle of Man.
Also among the leading entries in the Historic section is Steve Perez British Rally Champion 2010 and also British Historic Rally Champion 2014, he will be driving his extremely popular Lancia Stratos rally car.
Rally legend Jimmy McRae returns to Killarney, the five-time British Rally Champion and seven -time winner of The Circuit of Ireland is looking forward to the event driving his Vauxhall Firenza Can-Am.
The action gets underway on Saturday morning with the iconic ‘Molls Gap’
Coolick, the Kilcummin village stage, is always a favourite. Just north of Killarney town, the stage runs straight through the village offering a great spectacle for the many fans to view.
Anablatha is a newly designed stage in the Gneeveguilla area, sections of which have been used in the past by the Rally of the Lakes.
Gortnagane, which runs parallel to the main Rathmore/ Killarney road, is highly regarded as one of the most technical, narrow, and demanding stages of Killarney rallying.
The second run over Gortnagane, will be run under the cover of darkness
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