News from the Weekend

In a dramatic late change to the leaderboard, Armagh driver Darren Gass and his Monaghan co-driver Enda Sherry scored their first International win when they finished just 1.3 seconds ahead of former Tarmac champion Eugene Donnelly in the Safety Direct Galway International Rally.

Halfway through the rally, this pair held third place, 49 seconds behind leaders and last year’s winners Tim McNulty and Paul Kiely, with the Mini of Donnelly and Paddy Toner second on its Irish debut.

However, McNulty, who last year became the first driver to win the Tarmac and Dunlop National titles in the same year, damaged the front suspension of his Impreza when he hit a chicane on the sixth of ten stages at Caherlistrane, causing him to drop time on each of the remaining stages.

Gass was closing on the Meath driver by some 15 seconds per stage, and took the lead on the penultimate test. Meanwhile, Donnelly lost more than 40 seconds when his car punctured, dropping him to third place, but he almost snatched a late win by taking 15 seconds from Gass on the last stage, leaving them just 1.3 seconds apart at the finish, with the disappointed McNulty another five seconds behind in a close third position.