2005 Galway International Rally - 4-6 Feb 05

Posted: February 10, 2005 9:33 AM - 27135 Hits

Round 1 - 2005 Tarmac Championship

Donnelly and Kiely win Galway International rally
Wilson returns to winning ways in Galway
DISAPPOINTMENT FOR MILNER IN GALWAY
O'Mahony Starts Tarmac assault with a Class win
Jennings Returns to the Hot Seat
N10 out of 10 for MRallying's Galway Victory
Full Results, Stage Times, Fastest times etc
Links to Photos

Photo: www.roydempster.com

Posted: February 10, 2005 9:33 AM

‘Donnelly and Kiely win Galway International rally’
The First Choice Flooring, Galway International Rally was action packed all the way, with Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely taking victory in a Toyota Corolla WRC from Austin McHale and Brian Murphy in a nail biting finish. The outcome of the rally was virtually decided on stage 13 when Austin McHale and Brian Murphy spun their Ford Focus WRC, losing 30 seconds in the process and handing the lead to Donnelly and Kiely who ended up as winners by a margin of 35.4 seconds.

Derek McGarrity and Dermot O Gorman put in a strong performance to take the third spot in their Skoda Fabia WRC. An encouraging result for the pair who are hoping to make a big impact in the 2005 Pirelli Irish Tarmac Championship. The top five was rounded off by Peadar Hurson and Eamon Boland, both in Subaru Impreza World Rally Cars. Double British rally champion Johhny Milner went out of the rally on Sunday after suffering some brake problems with his Skoda Octavia WRC. JJ Flemming and Robbie Ward were all set to take best Galway Crew until some minor damage in the closing stages put them out of the rally and left Daragh Raftery and John Carroll the first galway car across the finish ramp and winners of The Brian Thornton Perpetual Trophy.

A number of Galway Crews were in action over the weekend, including Gerard Hodgins and Gerard Dervan who were third in Class 10,in a Peugeot 205 Dermot Callanan and Philip Conneely, Second in class 10 in a Ford Escort, Neil Pierce and Greg Kennedy, second in class 6 in a Honda Civic and Stuart Dempsey and Adrian Foley, first in class 9 in a Suzuki Swift. Frank Cunningham and Ross Forde were overall winners in the Historic Rally in an Austin Mini.

Mike Bird and Ken Flanagan in car 56, the First Choice Flooring/ Goal car, came home 26th overall. A big thank you to everyone who contributed to the collection for GOAL during the rally.

The weather provided a massive boost for the weekend, apart from some frost early in the morning the drivers were blessed with blue skys. The fine weather also boosted the number of spectators with estimates of 35,000 in the city over the weekend. Credit is due to all the drivers and co-drivers who took part and provided us with such a spectacular rally, in particular the large number of galwar crews who came out to support a home event. Galway has seen another fantastic rally and provided the launch pad for what looks like a very exciting Pirelli Tarmac Championship for 2005. Galway Motor Club and First Choice Flooring would like to thank everyone who helped with the rally in any way. We look forward to seeing all our Motorsport friends in Galway for February 2006.
Thanks to Ultan Burke

Photo: James Burke

Eugene Donnelly at the finsh ramp
When asked how how he felt, Donnelly replied “ I’m on top of the world and I’m delighted to be here today surrounded by family and friends”. Eugene said it was very special to win Galway after the trouble on the Cork International rally at the end of the 2004 Tarmac Championship. He paid tribute in particular to his brother Charlie and Derek McGeehan for all the help and support in getting the car rebuilt and ready for a new championship. Eugene takes the first victory in 2005 with his co-driver Paul Kiely and heads to The Circuit of Ireland in five weeks time, looking for his second win in the 2005 Pirelli Tarmac Championship.
Thanks to Ultan Burke

Wilson returns to winning ways in Galway
The Galway international rally was the start of Peter Wilson’s 2005 rallying campaign. Peter from Co Meath was the runner up in the 2004 Motorsport Ireland Billy Coleman Young Driver award. He began the 2005 season in his normal fashion by setting a blistering pace in his class two Honda Civic. The same car which he took to victory in the class 2 category in last seasons Dunlop National Championship.

Photo: Seamus Counihan Partnered as usual by co driver Chris Farelly the crew started the Galway international by taking a fastest time in the class on stage one, some 11 seconds ahead of their 5 other class rivals. This was a trend that was to continue over the weekend with Wilson taking fastest time in this class on every one of the 17 stages. In fact at the end of the 17 stages and 150 competitive miles Peter and co driver Chris were over 15 minutes ahead of their nearest rival, a considerable margin and an undisputed win. Peter gained this class victory with times that put him in an excellent 21st overall amongst some much more experienced competitors and superior machinery.

The 17 stages were all slippy and challenging for a front wheel drive 1600cc Group N car but Peter acquitted himself excellently with the only drama being a minor overshoot on stage six due to badly fading brakes. Peter further impressed by backing up his fast stages times with consistency as on all 17 stages he never dropped below 27th fastest overall and even climbed as high as 22nd fastest on the last leg, and such a performance was excellent given the quality of the competition in an international rally with 16 WRC cars.

Peter was greatly assisted on event by his service crew from long time supporters at James Cassidy Motors and other long time sponsors Navan Hire.

Peter and Chris are now hoping to continue with the Tarmac championship by securing some sponsors and funding to allow them compete on the Circuit of Ireland and hopefully continue the championship with their winning form intact.

DISAPPOINTMENT FOR MILNER IN GALWAY
Double British Rally Champion Jonny Milner saw his hopes of a good result disappear when he was forced out of the First Choice Flooring Galway International Rally at the weekend

Driving the ProSpeed Motorsport Skoda Octavia WRC on the opening round of the 2005 Pirelli Irish Tarmac Championship which he is planning to contest in full this season, the 35 year old Yorkshireman overcame brake problems on Saturday’s opening leg before eventually succumbing to gearbox failure on day two.

Photo: Roy Dempster Along with co driver Nicky Beech, the pair made a great start on their Irish debut, trading times with the series regulars on the opening stages until a brake problem after first service left them struggling.

After dropping down the order from his original 7th place, Milner made inroads into the deficit with a spirited fightback by setting top six times through the remainder of the day to lay in 19th overnight.

Sunday started well for the ProSpeed team and straight away, Milner was on the pace, catching cars in the opening stage of the day as he continued his relentless climb back towards the top ten. However, a minor noise in the gearbox gradually got worse and the Octavia ground to a halt leaving the pair stranded less than a mile from the end of SS10.

“It’s such a disappointment all round as the team has put so much effort into this event” said a dejected Jonny. “We made a perfect start and were going fine until we suffered with the brake problems on Saturday and then we just lost all drive after clawing our way back on Sunday. It’s a real shame not to have shown the true potential of the Octavia but at least we can take heart by the fact that we were matching the times of the top local drivers when everything was going fine” concluded Milner.

The team now have seven weeks to prepare for the next round of the series, the Meteor Electrical Circuit of Ireland Rally, which takes place over the weekend of March 26th to 28th

O'Mahony Starts Tarmac assault with a Class win
Young Cork driver Brian O'Mahony started his Pirelli Irish Tarmac Rally Championship assault to great effect in last weekends Galway International Rally.

Photo Seamus Counihan
Brian, with co-driver John Higgins, battled both the slippery conditions and gear selection problems in their OM Concrete Products backed Ford Puma S1600 to finish 1st in Class and 23rd overall.

They hope to compete in the upcomming Mayo Stages Rally as a shake-down for the Circuit of Ireland.

Jennings Returns to the Hot Seat
Former Peugeot UK works driver Garry Jennings returned to rallying with style on last weekend’s Galway International Rally. Having taken time out to develop his own oils and lubricants business, he purchased a Group N Mitsubishi Evolution 6 just two weeks before the classic Irish event.

“I bought the car from KG Motorsport and asked James O’Brien if he fancied a ride for old time’s sake.” joked Jennings, “We were just out for a bit of fun after my accident on Killarney last year.”

The rally ran over Saturday and Sunday and Jennings took it easy on the slippery conditions of the first two stages of Saturday morning. The pair dropped some time with the cautious approach and compounded the time-loss after clipping a rock on SS4, picking up a damaged wheel and a slow puncture. They changed the damaged wheel after the stage and picked up the pace, “We’ve been catching cars,” commented Jennings,” but it hasn’t dropped us much time and we’re happy to be third in Group N at the overnight halt.”

Photo James Burke
Re-seeded overnight, Jennings and O’Brien attacked day two, Seamus Leonard’s Evo 8.5 the target. By stage 11 the gap was down to just seven seconds and a big push on stage 12 put Jennings’ Kumho shod Mitsubishi ahead by just 1.8 seconds and into tenth place overall. The final five stages saw the pair pull away from Leonard but they couldn’t take first place in the category, finishing second in Group N and ninth overall after two days of close competition.

At the finish Jennings and O’Brien were obviously delighted, “We had a great time and proved that even an out of date car like the Evo 6 can still be on the pace,” said Jennings, “I’m considering having a go at the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge but I know that the (Evo) 6 will be no match for the later cars,” he added, “but it won’t stop me from having a go”. The first round of the Evo Challenge is Rallye Sunseeker based in Bournemouth on 25/26th February.

Garry would like to thank all the people who helped him and James on the Galway International Rally, particularly KG Motorsport, Kumho and the rest of the staff at Jennings Fuels and Lubricants.

N10 out of 10 for MRallying's Galway Victory
Last weekend saw Colm Murphy and Ger Loughrey finally get their first International Tarmac Rally Group N victory under their belts. Fighting against the odds throughout last season in an older car, the Limerick pairing took maximum advantage of their new Subaru Impreza N10 to show the rest of the field the way home on the First Choice Flooring Galway International rally.

Photo: Roy Dempster
The win was not to come easy though – at the end of the first stage the back of the Thermia Heatlink sponsored car looked decidedly second hand having had a brush with a wall after a jump – Colm not happy with a light back end. The McKinstry team put this right at first service and the change was immediately visible – increased confidence in the handling saw the MRallying crew scorch into the lead with a fastest Group N time, a lead they weren’t to relinquish all weekend.

With the car behaving faultlessly, Colm and Ger set about the job in hand, trading times with the other crews whilst also getting used to their new Shell backed steed. Overnight, Colm was delighted with a one minute lead – “We pushed hard today and once the car was set-up right it really ran well, it’s some car to go”.

Sunday morning saw the Limerick based team in a new situation, driving to consolidate a lead in an International event. With seasoned campaigners behind them and ice and mud on the Galway boreens, that task was far from straight forward. A cautious start saw the Advance Surveys, Pirelli shod car feel its way back onto the pace. The second loop of stages saw the crew answer any doubters – Colm responded to the other crews attempts to whittle down the lead by blitzing stage 14.

The last loop of stages should’ve seen the Colm back off but a fastest time again on the final stage of the event epitomised how the whole event had gone for the crew in their Transplant Trailer Sales car. Back in Eyre Square, a fantastic atmosphere with thousands of spectators welcomed the crews home after a magnificent rally. Delighted, Colm enthused “That was a fantastic rally, it’s great to finally have a result like this after all the disappointments of last year. Thanks to all my sponsors, without their support we wouldn’t be here and congratulations to Galway Motor Club on a tremendous event!”

Colm would like to thank all his sponsors for their support over the weekend, Pirelli, Shell, Thermia Heat Link, Trackcare Engineering, Transplant Trailer Sales, The Connemara Gateway Hotel, Advance Surveys, the Gables Bar Athea and the Vanity Case Beauty Salon. For more information about the team, check out www.mrallying.com and keep an eye out for the Impreza on the stages!

www.mrallying.com

07/02/05
Although they lost their narrow overnight lead on the first of Sunday’s nine stages in the First Choice Flooring Galway International Rally, Eugene Donnelly and Paul Kiely in their Toyota Corolla were the clear winners of the opening round of the Pirelli Irish Tarmac Championship.

Veteran Austin McHale in his Sanyo Ford Focus, trying for a record seventh Galway victory, grabbed the lead on the opening stage of the day at Greenville with a time nine seconds quicker than his rival, and was two seconds in front at the end of the first loop.

The Rathcoole driver was very happy with his car now that it has been converted to right hand drive, feeling that it is much improved, and he was certainly able to match the leading pace for most of the weekend.

Donnelly retook top spot on the second run through Greenville, and when McHale spun on the next stage, Eglish, dropping 26 seconds, the duel was effectively over, with the Maghera driver going on to a 35 second win, a very satisfying result after losing this rally last year by less than a second.

Former National champion Peadar Hurson started in third place yesterday, but lost half a minute when he spun on the slippery opening stage, dropping behind the Skoda Fabia WRC of double Tarmac champions Derek McGarrity and Dermot O’Gorman, which held third to the finish despite clutch problems.

Gareth McHale, younger son of Austin, acquitted himself well on his first major event in a WRC car, driving his father’s Toyota Corolla to seventh place, behind the Imprezas of Eamonn Boland and Tim McNulty despite a couple of spins.

In a well judged drive, Limerickman Colm Murphy held his lead of just over a minute in the Group N Production class, taking eighth overall ahead of class runner up Garry Jennings, with Seamus Leonard taking third place.

Early leader Kevin Lynch was the day’s major casualty, dropping out with transmission problems after recovering to seventh place early yesterday, while Denis Cronin also retired in service at Ballinasloe after sliding off the road. Double British champion Jonny Milner, whose Skoda Octavia was well down the field following major braking troubles on Saturday, finally called it a day on Sunday’s second stage.
Report: www.motorsportireland.com


RESULTS
1 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC) 2hr 16m 52.1s 
2 Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) 2hr 17m 27.5s 
3 Derek McGarrity/Dermot O’Gorman (Skoda Fabia WRC) 2hr 19m 22.9s 
4 Peadar Hurson/Glenn Patterson (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2hr 20m 25.5s 
5 Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2hr 20m 59.6s 
6 Tim McNulty/Eugene O’Donnell (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2hr 21m 26.5s 
7 Gareth McHale/Paul Nagle (Toyota Corolla WRC) 2hr 22m 33.3s 
8 Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Subaru Impreza N10) GpN 2hr 25m 33.4s 
9 Garry Jennings/James O’Brien (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) Gp N 2hr 26m 40s 
10 Seamus Leonard/Gerry McVeigh (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8.5) Gp N 2hr 27m 04.7s

Class winners: 
Peter Wilson/Chris Farrelly (Honda Civic) 
Keith McElhinney/Paul McCarron (Honda Civic) 
Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey 
Harry Cathcart/Kenny Weir (Suzuki Swift) 
Brian O’Mahony/John Higgins (Ford Puma) 
John Paul Ruth/Pierce Doheny (Peugeot 306) 
Peadar Hurson/Glenn Patterson

NATIONAL EVENT: 
1 Paul Gallagher/Karl Reid (Toyota Corolla) 2h 33m 20s
2 John Reddington/Garret Hannigan (Ford Escort) 2h 37m 47.1s 
3 Anthony O’Halloran/Conor Foley (Opel Manta) 2h 38m 12.1s 

Class winners: 
Stuart Dempsey/Adrian Foley (Suzuki Swift) 
Gary McElhinney/Dermot McGroary (Ford Escort) 
Seamus Murphy/Graham Kelly (Ford Escort) 
Raymond Drury/Peter Leahy (Ford Escort) 
Cerios James/Patrick Kiely (Opel Manta)
Peter Greene/Brian Moore (Ford Escort) 
Tommy Flanagan/Keith Flanagan (Toyota Celica) 
Kieran McBride/Daniel O’Donnell (Honda Civic) 

HISTORIC EVENT: 
1 Frank Cunningham/Ross Forde (Mini Cooper S) 2h 09m 09s 
2 Mervyn Johnston/Richard Hyland (Mini Cooper S) 2h 09m 46.5s 
3 Con Ward/Niall O’Donnell (Mini Cooper S) 2h 12m 17.2s

Class winners: 
Niall Creighton/Greg Roberts (Lotus Cortina) 
Martin Creaven/Shane Creaven (Ford Escort) 
Mike Devine/John Devine (Ford Escort). 

POST-HISTORIC EVENT: 
1 Adrian Kermode/Maurice Beckett (Porsche 911) 2h 08m 42.2s

JUNIOR EVENT: 
1 Keith Power/Des Moran (Ford Puma) 1h 23m 45.5s 
2 Columba Heena/Declan Gallagher (Toyota Corolla) 1h 24m 59s
3 Derek Deane/John McKettrick (Ford Escort) 1h 25m 51.8s 

Class winners: 
Colin O’Toole/John McGrath (Opel Corsa)
Jason Coyle/Michael Fitzgibbon (Ford Escort)

Stage Winners:
SS1 Kevin Lynch/Gordan Noble (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS2 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS3 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS4 Kevin Lynch/Gordan Noble (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS5 Peadar Hurson/Glenn Patterson (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS6 Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC)
SS7 Kevin Lynch/Gordan Noble (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS8 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS9 Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC)
SS10 Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC)
SS11 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS12 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS13 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS14 Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC)
SS15 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS16 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS17 Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC)

Leaders After:
SS1 Kevin Lynch/Gordan Noble (Subaru Impreza WRC)
SS2-5 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS6-7 Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC)
SS8 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)
SS9-11 Austin McHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC)
SS12-17 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)