Record Equalling Genie makes it Title Number Five!
Following his victory on the Murphy Construction Cork 20’, Eugene Donnelly has equalled Austin McHale’s record of Five Tarmac Championship titles, and is one victory away form equalling the late, great Bertie Fisher’s record of 20 Tarmac Rally victories. Victories in Galway, the Circuit of Ireland, The Jim Clark, Ulster and Cork, and a second place in Donegal ensured a 12 point victory over his nearest rival, Gareth McHale in a Focus WRC. This Title win was made extra special for the McGeehan Motorsport crew, as it is the first major international Championship won by the Skoda Fabia WRC.
The Year started perfectly for Eugene with victory in the traditional opener, the Safety Direct Galway International. Eugene went off at number five seed in a star studded line-up that boasted WRC regulars Conrad Rautenbach and Aaron Burkart who were using the event as a shakedown for Rally Ireland. The field also displayed a strong Irish entry with reigning champion Eamon Boland, Tim McNulty, 2003 champion Derek McGarrity, 2008 Pirelli Star driver Darren Gass and the McHale brothers Aaron and Gareth. Day 1 proved to be a torrid, wet, slippery affair that saw Tim McNulty retire after the first stage and Derek McGarrity calling it a day after six frustrating stages. Eamon Boland held the overnight lead 13.8 seconds ahead of Kevin Lynch in the Subaru. Donnelly returned to Galway city in third place overnight ahead of Rautenbach, Peadar Hurson, Gareth McHale and his brother Aaron. Day 2 proved to be even more challenging than day 1 with both lead Subarus retiring with mechanical failure on the first stage. Rautenbach too had engine trouble, which eventually saw the Xsara WRC fail to make the finish. Eugene took advantage of the other’s misfortune to arrive back into Eyre Square the winner with a over a minute to spare over the hard charging Gareth McHale, with Peadar Hurson back in third. It was a great moment for the Maghera man who did not get a chance to retain his title in 2008 due to a lack of funding. In the group N showroom category, Anthony O’Halloran finished fifth overall to take the class win in his Evo from Sean Flanagan’s Subaru. The top local crew were Mike Bird and Kevin Keane.
The second round of the championship was the traditional Easter Circuit of Ireland. This year’s event sponsored by Larsen Building Products was based in Banbridge and again had a star-studded entry. The pace was frantic that the lead changed hands three times in the opening three stages. However the fourth stage saw the Skoda Fabia of Eugene Donnelly relish the bumpy lanes of Hamilton’s Folly to move into a 10 second lead that it never relinquished. Day 2 saw 2008 winner Eamon Boland battle with Gareth McHale for second place, with the Wexford man coming out on top. It was another sweet victory for Donnelly who praised the efforts of his McGeehan Motorsport crew and claimed the winning of the rally was on the Hamilton’s Folly stage of day 1. Boland held of McHale for second, while Tim McNulty took fourth form Darren Gass in fifth. Fourth was a good result for Meath man McNulty after his non-finish in Galway, and a healthy haul of 8 championship points would help build his confidence before Killarney. Group N saw Alan Carmichael take victory to share the championship lead with Sean Flanagan who’s Impreza retired with transmission failure on stage six.
May brought round three on the championship, the Ordinance Survey Killarney Rally of the Lakes. Day 1 started with arguably the most famous strip of tarmac in Irish rallying, the mighty Moll’s Gap stage. Tim McNulty took an early 7 second lead over Gareth McHale, with Eugene Donnelly back in third. The top crews traded close times all day, and eventually Gareth McHale came into the overnight parc fermé with a slender 2.2-second lead over Donnelly, with Eamon Boland a further 7.6-seconds in arrears. Sunday and day 2 started as day 1 had finished with McHale’s lead being cut to just 1.1 seconds by a hard pushing Eamon Boland. However stage 12, Cods Head was to prove fateful for both McHale, who left the road, and Donnelly who also left the road after getting distracted by Gareth’s accident. Even Boland struck trouble on this stage when a puncture handed Tim McNulty the lead. This was quite a turnaround for the Meath man who had dropped over 35 seconds on day 1 with a damaged suspension. It was a lead he would not let slip and he brought the s12 Impreza back to Killarney as the winner. It was Tim’s first win in two years and his third overall. He also joins an elite group of Fisher, Coleman, McHale and Nesbitt all of whom have won this prestigious rally on more than one occasion. He was joined on the podium by Eamon Boland who scooped the Bertie Fisher Cup for the fastest time of the weekend up Molls Gap, and Aaron McHale. In group N, local man Alan Ring lead from start to finish in his Munster Joinery backed Evo 9, and finished over two minutes ahead of former group N champion Colm Murphy, who was making his first appearance of the year.
The fourth round of the Championship saw the crews depart for Scotland and the Jim Clark memorial Rally. This was also the first of three times the Tarmac Championship would cross swords with the British Rally Championship. Again there was a tremendous turnout of WRC muscle with all the championship front-runners making the trip across the pond. The overnight leader was Tim McNulty who had an earlier one- minute time penalty overturned. He held this lead until four stages to the end when the genie struck again to end up winning the event by 23.3 seconds. McNulty eventually finished second, with Boland back in third. The top BRC runner was Mark Higgins who had an 11 second cushion at the end over Cork man Keith Cronin who was still leading the championship by two points.
June brought round five, the Topaz Donegal International Rally. It was a rally that saw Gareth McHale come of age and fulfil all the early promise his career had shown. Now back in his 06 Focus WRC, Gareth led from start to finish of the rally, posting eleven out of twenty fastest stage times. His only real challenge came from Eamon Boland who had been pushing McHale hard up until he retired on the second last stage. That left last year’s winner Eugene Donnelly in second place in the Skoda. He had been pushed hard all weekend by Tim McNulty whose great drive came to an end on stage 16 with a puncture. Eventually third was taken by Sean Devine in his s11 WRC.
Seamus Leonard in his Evo 9 who had a four-minute margin over Damien Tourish took group N.
The Rally Isle of Man saw the Irish WRC might leave out the expensive trip across the Irish Sea. This left Irish hopes riding on BRC regular championship leader Keith Cronin. Cronin was taking on local hero Mark Higgins and almost beating him. Were it not for a puncture three stages from the end, Cronin could have pulled off the upset of the year. However it finished with Mark Higgins winning by almost a minute and a half with 20-year-old Fermanagh native, Alastair Fisher back in third. Alastair is the nephew of multiple Irish Champion, Bertie Fisher.
The Tarmac and British Rally Championships crossed paths for the final time in 2009 on the Toddsleap Ulster Rally. This Rally proved to be the closest rally of the Year with Eugene Donnelly and Gareth McHale trading fractions of seconds over the course of the rally and even in Donnelly heartland of Maghera, the 27-year-old Dubliner pushed the four-time champion as hard as he could. However McHale cracked and overshot a junction on the final stage, which he went into only half-a-second behind. Eventually Donnelly won by 14 seconds with Derek McGarrity back in third and Mark Higgins leading the BRC brigade, and group N back in fourth.
The Final Rally of the Year was The Cork 20’ International. Gareth McHale still had an outside mathematical chance of winning the title, but Donnelly was hot favourite. However Donnelly used his experience and refused to be drawn into a battle with McHale who raced into an early lead. Instead Eugene settled for second place, which was enough to win him his record equalling fifth Tarmac Championship. The rally was won easily by Gareth McHale, with Eugene even admitting that he would have been hard pushed to beat him. However it was Eugene’s day and year. Denis Cronin finished a distant third in his older model Impreza WRC. A tenth place finish was enough for Alastair Fisher to take the Group N title in his first season competing in a four-wheel drive car.
Special mention also has to go to Keith Cronin this year who won the International Rally Yorkshire to Secure the British Rally Championship and become the first Irish driver to do so since Billy Coleman back in 1974.
We are all looking forward to 2010 and what everybody hopes will be another competitive year. And who would bet against Donnelly breaking the record? It all kicks off again in Galway with the Safety Direct Galway international Rally on Friday the 5th of February and we hope to see you all there.
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