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 DONNELLY MASTERS MANX ON KUMHO
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 Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely have now added the Rally Isle of Man to their impressive tally of rally wins, as they guided their Toyota Corolla to maximum Irish Tarmac Championship points. With one of the strongest entries of the season, it was the Kumho-backed team's third time on the island for this very specialised rally. 'I had it in my mind that I wanted to win the rally at the start. I don't think an Irish driver has won it since Frank Meagher and it was almost definitely going to be an Irish driver on top this year. We had three really competitive rivals to beat: Eamon Boland, Derek McGarrity and of course Kenny McKinstry.'
Friday was certainly the big day, and with 11 stages and 98 punishing stage miles, it was the longest day of the tarmac series. The damp weather was suiting the Toyota team, and Eugene began to make a move, eclipsing McGarrity for second by stage 8, and by stage 10 Cringle the Kumho tyred Corolla was leading its rivals by one second.
Rain showers were prominent throughout the day and tyre choice was a lottery. 'Really I have to thank my brother Charlie. He worked really hard to get the conditions of the stages, and we made some choices which others thought daring, but every one of them was spot on. It was very tricky as the shiny tarmac was serious, there were bits of the road like ice it was that bad.' But the slippery conditions suited Eugene as he pulled a 30 second buffer over Kenny McKinstry going into the final day's seven stages.
The Kingspan team held on to that buffer on the first stage out at Rhenab, but Kenny McKinstry mounted a huge assault on the Slieu Dhoo test and by stage 22 White Strand the gap was just 18 seconds, but third placed Derek McGarrity departed the fray in spectacular fashion on this test, the Subaru driver badly breaking his arm and damaging his shoulder in the process.
With a sticking throttle to contend with over the last two stages it was far from certain that Eugene would make it to the finish but in the end the team won by a margin of some 24 seconds.
It's back home for the penultimate round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, the Ulster Rally in September, and there is a chance that the team could clinch their third Irish Tarmac Championship there. Eugene commands a fifteen point lead over Eamon Boland and with brother Charlie still battling with Patrick Elliot for the Irish National Championship, a Kumho-Donnelly double on the two major Irish rallying championships would make the Donnelly Motorsport team the most successful in Irish rallying memory.
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