Clare’s Anthony O’Halloran and Charlie McEnery driving their Mitsubishi Evo IX lifted the laurels coming out winners of Group N and 5th overall in last weekend’s Safety Direct Galway International Rally. The event which was the first round of the Tarmac Championship is notorious for its difficult conditions, providing a stern test for all competing crews who take on the event. This year saw conditions deteriorate on Saturday morning which left crews competing in very stormy conditions with severe rain driven by polar gale force winds. Needless to say the stages which were of a technical nature were made all the more difficult with plenty of standing water and mud adding to the challenge.

Damien Tourish Evo IX was fastest out of the blocks after the winter lay off with a 5.39.7 followed by O’Halloran Evo IX 5.41.1, Sean Flanagan Impreza N11 5.44.1 and Kevin Kelleher Evo IX 5.46.9. O’Halloran made life difficult for himself starting his day, “must have a brain like a brick, I forgot to switch on the differentials”. O’Halloran had a spin in stage 5 and then a further spin at a junction and had to make a 3 point turn, the two incidents costing him probably 50s. Anthony was now 3rd GpN.

Over the course of the next five stages most of the top lads were having minor offs such were the conditions. SS 5 was not good as a visit to a ditch saw the Clare crew loose valuable time. SS7 saw Kevin Kelleher leave the event after going off the road. At the end of the first day having covered 9 stages the battle for Group N came down three main drivers Tourish 8th O/A, Flanagan 9th O/A and O’Halloran 10th O/A.

Day two saw the crews contest stages around Lough Cutra, Shanaglish and Ballybuck. Stage one of the day greeted drivers with plenty of hail and rain leaving SS10 flooded in parts, as a result the stage was shortened. SS11 Shanaglish was running nicely until the demise of Sean Gallagher which saw the car block the stage and the crew requiring the assistance of the emergency services thankfully both driver and navigator although shook were ok. Eamon Boland who had been leading the event also retired on this stage due to mechanical issues and was promptly followed by Kevin Lynch who had been running in second overall, this left Eugene Donnelly who was lying third overall take over at the front. SS12 although delayed as a result of the aforementioned accident did get to run however such were the delays that all crews from fifth overall got a nominal time. Following service Lough Coutra SS 13 was cancelled and this was not so good for O’Halloran as he needed as many stage miles as possible to gain time on his opposition. Damian Tourish lost the group N lead and was out of the rally having slid wide on a 5R corner just before the finish of stage 15 and damaged a front wheel on his Lancer. This left Sean Flanagan & Brian Duggan leading the group N category with Anthony O’Halloran and Charlie McEnery in 2nd.

As the day went on it came down to the last two stages there was a titanic battle towards the end between Sean Flanagan and Anthony O’Halloran. Sean Flanagan was ahead by just under 3s going into the final stage but O’Halloran pulled out all the stops to record a time almost 9s faster than his rival to take victory. Anthony commented. “The last stage was mental, I was doing Yoga breathing and everything, the first mile the sun was shining right into my eyes, it was tough”.

In fact such was the effort over the last stage Anthony and Charlie posted a time of 4.54.5 whilst the rally winner Eugene Donnelly Skoda WRC posted a 4.54.3. The final result sees Anthony and Charlie take 5th Overall and Winners of Group N.

This is a fantastic start to the season for the crew and as such they would like to thank the team for all their hard work and effort over the weekend. This result paves the way for an attack on the 2009 season.

The rally was a fairytale come true for four times tarmac rally champion Eugene Donnelly who together with Paddy Toner took victory in their McGeehan Motorsport prepared Skoda. For years Eugene was known as the Genie for the way he could beat all the odds and take victory on rallies when really it did not look possible.

Last weekend has been out of the same mould for him. It has been a very low budget effort in his Skoda and although he was not the quickest on the first day, when Eamonn Boland and Kevin Lynch had trouble’s with their Subaru’s Eugene was right there to take advantage.

Gareth McHale in the Tom Hogan Motors backed Focus WRC had an up and down day on Saturday with many problems but he had a great run on Sunday setting a string of fastest times to take 2nd overall.

Peadar Hurson drove a brilliant rally and took third overall in his Subaru Impreza WRC.

Wesley Patterson took victory in the National Section while Galway man Ray Cunningham took victory in the Historic Rally in his Mini Cooper S.

Clare motor club member Marty Casey from ruan had a good battle in the Junior section of the event in his Honda Civic. He was beaten by just two seconds for a third overall placing in the Juniors, He finished fourth and third in his class.

Richard Casey / Brian McNamara  from Ruan retired early on Saturday morning with a blown engine in their Mk1 Escort.

Dermot Kelleher
RallyPortfolio.com