Over 170 asphalt stage miles will be packed into Friday and Saturday. The rally starts at 10am on Friday, taking in 100 stage miles, and concludes at 5pm on Saturday with the TT Grandstand celebrations after a further 75 miles of action.
In the absence of the Irish WRC brigade, the spotlight is firmly on the Group N cars and there will be excitement aplenty on the twenty special stages for the rally fans.
Leading Group N in the Tarmac Rally Championship is Alan Carmichael, the Ballymena driver has scored thirty five points, just one ahead of Ger O’Donovan in second place. Third overall is Alastair Fisher, the Fermanagh man ten points adrift of O’Donovan and he will be keen to make up for his misfortune on the last round in Donegal where he retired with a broken clutch. Newry driver Rory Byrne holds fourth place with nineteen points, just four ahead of Keith Cronin. Cronin leads the British Rally Championship two points ahead of Mark Higgins. The Isle of man rally hosts the fourth round of that series.
Once again Daragh O’ Riordan has entered his Renault Clio in the Super 1600 class. The Corkman has a maximum score on each event and is now the class winner. In class six Jason Pritchard can get up to third in class if he gets his Citroen C2R2 to the finish.
In class three Craig Breen and Kyle Orr are entered in their Fiestas and they are joined by Steve Graham in the Astra Diesel. Breen and Orr are second and third in this class, and Breen also has a huge lead in the Irish Fiesta Sporting Trophy. The Honda Civic of Joseph Mc Gonigle is entered in class two and the Donegal man can extend his class lead with a finish. Similarly Derek Boyd can extend his championship lead in the Historic class with the Porsche 911.
Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (after round five Donegal rally)
Eugene Donnelly Skoda WRC 60,
Gareth Mc Hale Focus WRC 46
Tim Mc Nulty Impreza WRC 36
Eamon Boland Impreza WRC 34
Daragh O’Riordan Clio S1600 26.
Austin Shinnors.
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