Irish Rallying continues to prosper as an oversubscribed entry of 151 cars and crews head to the North West this weekend for the Topaz Donegal International, the fifth round of the Irish Tarmac Rally championship, writes John Kenny.
The fast Donegal stages have proven time and again to be the most popular in the country and a top class entry has been received by the Donegal Motor Club for this weekend's three day event.
It's the longest and toughest Rally in the country at present, with the action starting at 9.45am on Friday in Letterkenny, where the crews roll off the ramp from An Grainan Theatre before travelling to Inishowen for six stages.
There are eight more on Saturday with the final six on Sunday before the finish at the Mount Errigal Hotel on Sunday evening at 5.54pm. In all, the crews will run over 900 kilometres between stages and road sections over the three days, a demanding feat of endurance.
Championship leader Eugene Donnelly (Skoda Fabia) won Donegal for the first time in 2004 and has won it twice more since, including last year's event, which was cut short due to the tragic death of a spectator.
The message from the organising club and drivers to the thousands of spectators that are expected to line the banks this weekend is to obey the marshals at all times and not to put lives at risk.
At the Killarney Rally of the Lakes last month, some decided to put themselves at risk with Aaron McHale reporting that a number of spectators were playing 'chicken' by running in front of his speeding Ford Focus, not only endangering their lives, but the lives of others.
The sport does not need a repeat in Donegal this weekend, especially as the event noted for being the fastest in the country.
Donnelly has a useful 12 point lead in the championship from the Subaru Impreza of Tim McNulty, following three wins in the opening four rounds in Galway, the Circuit and the Jim Clark in Scotland.
McNulty won in Killarney when Donnelly and Gareth McHale crashed out on the last day and Eamonn Boland suffered a puncture.
However, the Meathman has shown some decent speed in recent events and was leading the Jim Clark Rally until Donnelly overtook him in the latter stages.
Last year's tarmac champion Eamonn Boland is in third place, just two points behind McNulty and the Wexford man is bringing his Impreza to Donegal in the hope that he can score his first ever win in the North West to keep the pressure on Donnelly in the race to the title.
The number one seed is Gareth McHale (Ford Focus), who is still searching for his first ever win in an Irish Tarmac championship event, despite being the only Irish driver ever to score points in two World Rally events (Mexico '06 and Ireland '07).
Indeed, it is 15 years since a Ford won in Donegal, when Stephen Finlay's Escort and Gareth and Aaron McHale will be hoping to end that drought and emulate father Austin who won Donegal back in 1998.
'It's a tough rally and the speed is exceptional at times, but I feel that we have every chance,' said McHale.
Gareth and Aaron have 30 and 25 championship points respectively, still in the hunt, but a win would not go amiss for Garth to break his Tarmac Rallies duck and to stay in championship contention.
Aside from the battle at the front for the more powerful World Rally Car, the battle for Group N honours looks like being a fascinating one.
Alistair Fisher, nephew of the late Bertie Fisher, leads the group N fight but Alan Carmichael is just a point in arrears. The challenge is likely to come from the Mitsubishis of Gary Jennings and Shaun Gallagher, who will be running on his home ground.
The Modified section is once again dominated by Mark2 Escorts and Wesley Patterson has won every round of the Irish championship to date. Patterson is favourite to win the Modified Challenge in Donegal.
Elsewhere, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) goes to Belgium on Friday and Saturday for the Ypres Rally, with Irish pair Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle hoping to extend their lead in their Peugeot UK backed 307.
Having won the last two rounds of the IRC, Meeke now leads the overall drivers' standing by two points from Belgium tarmac specialist and team mate, Freddy Loix.
The tarmac stages Belgium will be very different from the gravel rallies of Brazil and the Azores that the Peugeot UK duo won so convincingly and Loix will be a difficult man to beat.
The Belgium Ypres rally will also see the largest number of S2000 cars line up for the start of what looks like a fascinating rally.
A total of five different manufacturers will be represented including Abarth, Peugeot, Skoda, VW and Proton with the Proton Satria Neo S2000 driven by British driver Guy Wilks.
The series is now a serious threat to the World Rally Championship and is attracting more manufacturers back into the sport than the senior series.
The Ypres rally starts on Friday and will see the competitors completing sixteen special stages over the two day event.
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