The young Dublin driver finished 50 seconds ahead of Tarmac championship leader Eugene Donnelly. Eamon Boland the current Tarmac champion retired on the penultimate stage while holding second place.
McHale driving his Ford Focus lead from start to finish and was fastest driver on 11 of the twenty stages. He ended the 15-year Ford drought on this rally, and he was the first driver from the south of Ireland to win since his father Austin scored his second victory in 1998.
This victory puts Gareth up to second place in the championship with forty six points, fourteen behind Eugene Donnelly. With three rounds remaining and bonus points available on the final round , this championship race is very open.
Donnelly driving his usual Skoda Fabia WRC finished second. The Maghera man was third for most of the rally and when Eamon Boland retired Donnelly inherited second to add to his victories in Galway, Circuit of Ireland and Jim Clark. Donnelly continues to lead the championship with 60 points.
Significantly Eamon Boland was the only driver to challenge Mc Hale. The 2009 champion was second from stage one until he retired with a blown engine in his Subaru on stage 19, one from the end.
Boland trailed McHale by as little as nine seconds by mid-rally ,but that gap had expanded to 40seconds at the end of stage 18. With this retirement Boland drops to fourth place in the championship, the Wexford man is now twenty six points behind leader Donnelly.
Tim Mc Nulty arrived in Donegal, second in the championship and fresh from his win in the Lakes and second in the Jim Clark. And while he had only one fastest time, he was fourth at the end of days one and two, but never far behind Donnelly. The Meath driver retired his Subaru after a puncture on stage sixteen. Mc Nulty now third in the championship is ten points behind McHale with Donnelly twenty four points ahead.
Alastair Fisher was leading the Group N section of the Tarmac Championship at the start of the rally, but clutch failure forced retirement and he now slips to third place. Alan Carmichael finished third and moves into a narrow lead over Ger O’Donovan who now moves into second place in the category. Local driver Damien Tourish won the category and now lies fourth in the championship. There is little between all these drivers at the moment and the category could go right down to the wire.
The best 2WD car was once again Daragh O’Riordan, this time driving an Opel Corsa. The Corkman is now an amazing fifth overall helped by the bonus points structure introduced into the championship for the first time this year.
Another innovation in thus year’s championship is the Modified Challenge. Wesley Patterson had another win in Donegal and becomes the inaugural Modified Challenge winner. The Escort Mk2 driver had a maximum score thanks to category wins in Galway, Circuit, Lakes and Donegal.
In the Historic section Derek Boyd was victorious once again in the 911 to put him in a stronger position in the championship.
The next round of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship will be the Isle of Man Rally International Rally held on July 10th and 11th. The two day 175 mile event is round six of the Irish Tarmac championship and also a round of the British Rally Championship.
Austin Shinnors.
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