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Kelly the boy from Frosses aims to secure victory on home patch

Donagh Kelly is hoping to extend his lead in the Irish Tarmac Championship this weekend with victory at the Donegal International Rally
Donagh Kelly is hoping to extend his lead in the Irish Tarmac Championship this weekend with victory at the Donegal International Rally Donagh Kelly is hoping to extend his lead in the Irish Tarmac Championship this weekend with victory at the Donegal International Rally

IRISH TARMAC RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP leader Donagh Kelly arrives at his local event, the Joule Donegal International Rally, this weekend with high hopes of extending his lead, having scored three victories to date this year in his Ford Focus WRC.

The Frosses driver has taken confidence-boosting wins in Galway, West Cork and Killarney and would love to add the Donegal International to his tally this year. Kelly is faced with some fierce competition, including last year’s winners, Donegal cousins Declan and Brian Boyle.

Having suffered significant reliability issues with his Subaru WRC this year, Boyle, from Leitirmacaward, comes to Donegal armed with a new weapon, an M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC. Declan will have to acclimatise quickly to this left-hand drive 1600 turbo car if he wants to take back-to-back wins.

Both Garry Jennings (Kesh), who won the event three years ago, and Derek McGarrity (Glengormley) will be running their respective Subaru WRCs in Donegal. Former Tarmac champion McGarrity, who has never won Donegal, would really love to bag this one. However, he believes the in-form Donagh Kelly is the driver to beat and one who offers a formidable challenge.

Midleton’s Darragh O’Riordan is another Fiesta WRC runner and starts at number five ahead of Omagh’s Séamus Leonard in his Subaru WRC and neither crew can be discounted despite Leonard’s sporadic outings. Burt driver PJ McDermott is seeded number seven, with the talented Stephen Wright from Newbliss back with his rapid Fiesta RS and Longford’s Tommy Doyle also challenges for Class 5 honours in his Skoda Fabia S2000.

Martin Doherty is the first in the Group N category with his Mitsubishi Evo 9, but will have class leaders Kildare’s Aaron MacHale (Evo 9) and Castleblaney’s Brendan Cumiskey in his Subaru to contend with on the three-day event.

European Rally Championship leader, Waterford’s Craig Breen, comes to Donegal fresh from his latest victory on the Azores Rally. Also back in Donegal, having made his rallying debut last year, is Irish motorcycle ace Michael Dunlop, and both he and Breen are competing in Class 14 for modified cars, amongst a record entry of 28.

Multiple Scottish Rally champion David Bogie also brings an Escort Mk2 and they all compete in the national section of the rally, along with British Rally champion Daniel McKenna from Monaghan, who comes to Donegal with a David Greer Motorsport/Brendan Kelly Toyota GT86 in Class 14.

The event starts on Friday morning from An Grianán Theatre before completing the scheduled 300 kilometres. The first of 20 stages over the three days gets underway just before 1pm and finishes at the Mount Errigal Hotel at 5.45pm.