Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy members dominate Rally4 class in Donegal.

Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy members dominate Rally4 class in Donegal.

Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy drivers dominated the Rally4 and Stellantis Cup elements of the Donegal International Rally.

The three-day rally – the biggest rally event in Ireland – proved to be its usual challenge but when the dust settled Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy members had taken the top three places in Rally4 and the top two positions in the one-make championship.

Irish Tarmac Championship Rally4 class leaders Ryan MacHugh and Declan Boyle in a Ford Fiesta Rally4were once again the dominant force in the class, holding a 5.7 second lead after Friday’s stages.

MacHugh’s primary challenger, Kyle McBride in his Peugeot Rally4, had set the front-wheel-drive pace throughout the opening day and was unfortunate to lose his 12.1-second lead to MacHugh, on the final Friday stage. after picking up a puncture two kilometres into the 12.1-kilometre test.

MacHugh grew his advantage over his Donegal compatriot to almost a minute by Saturday evening and held on to the class lead through Sunday to finish 17 seconds clear of the strongly chasing pack.

“It was a good weekend,” said MacHugh. “We were slow to start on Friday but picked up the pace on Friday evening. We were able to build up a lead over Saturday. I was slow again on Sunday morning and we spun the car on the first run over Fanad Head losing around 15 seconds. The gap was down to 20 seconds, but we held on, and we are delighted to get it over the line.”

Keelan Grogan, in another Peugeot Rally4, dropped 19 seconds after a big moment on stage one and had an overshot on the next pass of Malin Head but finished day one on a high with the second-fastest time in the class on stage six.

At the end of day two and after a total of 183 km and 14 stages of rallying just 1.9 separated the top two in the Stellantis category.

Grogan moved into the lead from McBride after the Donegal man’s Peugeot had an impact with an Armco barrier.

Grogan got caught in the rain and lost a chunk of time, and coupled with McBride’s chargeback, the duo went into day three with nothing between them.

McBride fought back over Sunday’s five-stage loop. He and co-driver Darragh Mullen took their maiden Stellantis Cup victory and second in the RC4 class after a stellar battle with Grogan and co-driver Ayrton Sherlock.

“A very good weekend overall and I am happy with my result,” said McBride at the finish.

“It was unfortunate to get a puncture on the last stage on Friday. We had really good stage times on Friday up to that point. It was a great weekend learning the car and trying new things and just to get more kilometres in the car and get more comfortable as the weekend went on.”

Grogan was upbeat after the rally.

 He said: “It was a very long and challenging weekend in Donegal. In the end, we came away with third in the RC4 class and second in the Stellantis Cup. It was a shame we dropped a lot of time on Friday’s stages, but we still come away with great championship points.”

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