|
|
 |
 Donnelly is outright Irish Tarmac champion
(Jennings takes production title)
|
|
|
|
|
Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely clinched the 2005 Irish Tarmac Tarmac Rally Championship by finishing a strong second on the Cork 20 Rally in October.
The superb win for the KUMHO tyred Toyota Corolla WRC driver eclipses even his own performance last year in finishing joint champion with Derek McGarrity.
Meanwhile KUMHO's other star Garry Jennings and co-driver Rory Kennedy were busy securing the Group N production title by finishing in a similar position in their class.
"We've taken four wins this year, all in an old Evo 6." beamed Garry at the finish, "It's been a fantastic year but I'm just relieved that the new car has been just as reliable. It was always a risk but she's been absolutely no trouble and the tyres have stood up really well again."
Eugene's team take up the story
A respectable finish in the top ten would wrap up the 2005 Tarmac Championship for Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely. Results are never that easy to come by but Eugene was confident going into the event that he could maintain a steady enough pace to keep it safe.
The opening stages were on damp and cold roads with blinding sunshine at times. The slippery conditions meant that there would be no let up in concentration and a number of moments on the first stage bore testament to this. The second loop of stages would see Eugene record his first fastest time of the day to keep him secure in third.
The second set of stages, just south of Macroom were very much to Eugene's liking and he kept the pressure on the leading duo but also happy to sit where he was and by the end of the day he was holding a comfortable third, just four seconds behind his title rival Derek McGarrity. If positions stayed the same he would retain his title.
Sunday dawned much brighter than the previous day with dry roads to ease the tyre choices a bit. Stage nine was comfortable but clipping a bank on the tenth damaged the tracking a bit. Fortunately for Eugene Derek McGarrity was also off at the same spot and he dropped to third.
From that stage on Eugene and Paul never looked back, a couple of more quickest times would be enough to secure them second on the event and more importantly retain their Tarmac title.
|
|
|
|
|
