Ardara driver, Declan Gallagher, and his Killarney-based co-driver, Ger Conway, took victory by 14.8 seconds in the Germaine's Hotel GSMC Baltinglass Mini Stages Rally. Photo: Seamus Counihan/crspics.com
Donegal's Declan Gallagher took victory on Sunday's Germaine's Hotel GSMC Baltinglass Mini Stages Rally, marking his second success in a row on the event, having previously also won it when it was most recently held in 2024. The Ardara driver and his Killarney-based co-driver, Ger Conway, brought their Toyota Starlet to the finish of the Garda Síochána Motor Club organised event with 14.8 seconds in hand over their closest challengers, the Mayo-Roscommon duo of Brian Lavelle and Jack Kelly, who led the rally earlier in the day in their Ford Escort RS.
Gallagher and Conway had led after the opening stage, but were troubled by a fluid leak under Gallagher's feet and accompanying smoke. Lavelle and Kelly were next quickest, 4.9 seconds down, while Vincent O'Shea and Aidan Bourke were just half a second further back in third. Overnight fog had largely lifted, although there was some lingering in the middle of the stage. Most drivers described how the surface remained slippy, and expressed an intention to adjust suspension settings at the first Service to better address the conditions.
The tables were turned on stage 2, as Lavelle and Kelly went fastest, having nine seconds to spare over Gallagher and Conway, to take an advantage of 4.1 into the first service. The new leaders had caught the crew running ahead of them on the road, Conor Murphy and Sean Collins, whose Escort had cut out and had been reluctant to restart. Lavelle reported that they were delayed for a couple of kilometres, and could otherwise have built up a more substantial cushion at the front.
All of the drivers reported that grip was at a minimum throughout the stage, but the conditions were to the benefit of those in four wheel drive cars. Craig Rahill and Conor Smith in their Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy supported Ford Fiesta Rally 3 climbed four places on the leaderboard, to lie third overall, 4.6 seconds down on Gallagher and Conway. Rahill and Smith also caught the car running ahead of them, and Rahill believed they could have otherwise gained a further ten to fifteen seconds. Cian Caldwell and Coel Leonard, also in a Rally Academy Fiesta, were second fastest on the stage and also gained four places, climbing to sixth overall. The stage did not suit the Darrian of O'Shea and Bourke, and they slipped down the order to tenth.
Only two crews managed to complete stage three before it was stopped following an off by Padraig Egan and Tomás Ryan, who had been lying in fourth overall in their Escort. This, combined with another incident among the later runners on stage two, led the organisers to cancel the middle loop. The action resumed in the afternoon, with stages five and six going ahead as scheduled.
The penultimate test saw Gallagher and Conway retake the lead in their Toyota Starlet. Their time of six minutes & 46.5 seconds, was under the 'bogey' time (set in accordance with a 130km/h average speed), therefore they were credited with 6.48.7 on the official results, but they still moved back in front of Lavelle and Kelly, who recorded 7:00.2. The overall gap stood at 7.4 seconds going into the final stage. Gallagher was happy with his efforts commenting "It was a good run in there, we'll go here and try to give it a bit of a push, keep it steady and get to the finish." Lavelle remarked that he had picked too soft a tyre compound, but was clearly disappointed with his time and to have lost the lead. "I drove as hard as I could drive, I did 7.02 in there the last time, I said I must have taken 15 or 20 out of my time. I can't get my head around it."
Johno Doogan and Paul Lennon in their Escort had picked up two punctures on an earlier stage, but had now recovered and overhauled Rahill and Smith for third overall. There was only 3.9 seconds between them heading into the final Rustyduff stage, which was tighter and expected to suit the four wheel drive Fiesta more favorably.
Gallagher and Conway were fastest again on the last stage, 7.4 quicker than Lavelle and Kelly to put the result beyond any doubt. It was timely boost for Gallagher, who had crashed out of the Harvest Rally in his home county last month. "After the excursion in the Harvest, it doesn't do your confidence any good, it's nice to back on it today and to have a good pace," he said. "Fair play to Ger and all the boys to get the car ready, it was a class day. It was a great event, fair play to the club, they put on two brilliant stages. I really enjoyed today." Conway was also pleased with the outcome. "It was a class day, the last two stages to finish it off, it was a savage spin, fair play to Declan." Lavelle too was satisfied with his day's work. "It was a great day, we were due a bit of luck, so we're delighted to get a clean run and a finish for once. I've never finished this far up in a rally. We've had a lot of misfortune and non-finishes, we said before the rally that if we got second behind Declan we'd be delighted."
Despite missing a braking point and hitting a chicane over the final kilometers, Doogan and Lennon held off Rahill and Smith in the battle for third, by 6.1 seconds. Caldwell and Leonard set another second fastest time and rounded out the overall top five, finishing the event just three seconds down on Rahill and Smith. Former event winner, Chris Armstrong, guided by Darren Curran, took sixth in an Escort.