McCarthy secures his ‘first proper finish’ in Donegal International

‘OVERALL, I’m happy,’ declared Clonakilty’s Cal McCarthy after he took his Carbery Plastics/Clonakilty Park Hotel-backed Citroen C3 Rally 2 to 18th overall – and tenth in the RC2 category – in the recent Wilton Recycling Donegal International Rally.
‘We had suspension issues on Friday’s opening stage, the set-up was too soft for the stages around south Donegal that were very bumpy. We made adjustments after the second stage and it was much better,’ McCarthy explained.
They finished Friday’s leg of six stages in 23rd position. The weather changed dramatically on Saturday’s eight stages with rain making for tricky and slippy conditions.
‘The car wasn’t handling properly and I couldn’t commit,’ he remarked.
However, the car was sorted for the six stages on Sunday.
‘That was my first proper finish in Donegal in three outings, no Super Rally. I’d take that any day. We had a good run over the final loop,’ McCarthy added.
Elsewhere, Clondrohid co-driver Eoghan McCarthy partnered British driver Alan Watkins (Ford Escort) to ninth overall in the Historic category.
Following a thrilling victory in the Donegal International Rally, Derry’s Callum Devine (VW Polo GTi R5) and his Killarney co-driver Noel O’Sullivan will start the forthcoming O’Connell Group Cork ‘20’ International Rally as leaders of the Samdec Securities Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. They finished the 20-stage Letterkenny-based event with a 55.5 second winning margin over the similar car of Welsh ace Matt Edwards and his Mallow born co-driver David Moynihan. The Monaghan/Limerick crew of Sam Moffett/Keith Moriarty (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) were 39.1s further behind in third.
Having made the long journey to Letterkenny for the Wilton Recycling Donegal International rally, the two Cork drivers involved in the Junior Irish Tarmac Rally Championship failed to make it to the finish of the opening stage High Glen.
Clonakilty’s Darragh O’Donovan, in a Honda Civic and co-driven by Lisavaird’s Michael White, retired three quarters way through the 24.68km stage. Meanwhile, Rylane’s Robbie O'Hanlon, also in a Honda Civic, the pre-event series leader, crashed out on the opening stage.
Remarkably, the top two positions remain unchanged with the Rylane driver holding a six-point lead over O’Donovan. The next round is the Cork ‘20’ International Rally (August 5th/6th) with the final round (Ulster Rally) in Newry on August 18th/19th; that particular event will have 50 percent bonus points. The series is decided on the best five from seven events – O’Donovan and O’Hanlon will be able to count their scores from the final two rounds.