Devine and O’Sullivan take Donegal hat-trick

Devine and O’Sullivan take Donegal hat-trick

Photos by D Harrigian and Phillip Fitzpatrick
Callum Devine and Noel O’Sullivan took a start-to-finish victory at the Donegal International Rally, sealing their third consecutive win at the event and their third victory of the season, despite missing the opening two rounds of the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.
The Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 crew led from the opening stage on Friday morning and never looked back.
They managed to hold off strong early pressure from William Creighton and Liam Regan, who were just 4.9 seconds behind midway through Saturday, before the rally turned on its head during the final loop that evening.

Former European Rally Champion Hayden Paddon and Dave Moynihan went off on Knockalla 2, while Creighton and Regan suffered a puncture and lost significant time on Kerrykeel 2.
That left Devine and O’Sullivan with a 21.8-second buffer heading into Sunday.
Meirion Evans and Ger Conway, in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, were best placed to take second place and held it to the finish.
It meant that two Killarney and District Motor Club co-drivers – O’Sullivan and Conway – finished first and second overall in Ireland’s most prestigious tarmac rally for the second year in a row.
Speaking at the finish, O’Sullivan said:
“I didn’t think much would top four wins in a row in Killarney, but three in a row in Donegal is something special. Callum drove great, he was solid all weekend.”
The Modified battle came down to the wire with KDMC co-driver Derry Long and his driver Aaron McIntyre locked in a tight scrap with Gareth Irwin and Justin McCauley.
Just 2.2 seconds separated the crews heading into the final Fanad Head stage.
McIntyre and Long came out on top to take the class win by 8.9 seconds.
Colin O’Donoghue and Evan MacBride showed early pace in their Ford Escort Mk2, running second in the category early on Friday.
However, a faulty cutout switch on stage four cost them over 12 minutes and derailed a strong run.
They rejoined under SuperRally rules. The pair salvaged a finish and showed solid pace over the remaining stages.
In the Historic section, Kerry Motor Club’s Denny Greaney navigated for Ronan Campbell in a Ford Escort RS1800.
They were fourth in the category after Stage 7 and held seventh after Stage 16.
A steady weekend for the crew on their first run together in Donegal, they eventually finished sixth in the category

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