Galway International Rally 2016

So the time is nearly upon us as the Irish Tarmac Championship moves into a new era where WRC cars can no longer win the championship outright, although can still win the individual rounds. Time will tell whether it was a wise move or not but anticipation for the upcoming event has been building for a while now. Theres still a lot excitement about who turns up in what that in recent years has been missing from Galway as social media has become more popular.

Just how far off the pace of the WRCs will the R5s be is still up in the air. There will be many a red face in Motorsport Ireland of the R5s are blown out of the water, and a lot of back slapping if the R5s destroy the WRCs. I think we will see something in the middle. The quick R5 drivers will be well ahead of some of the WRCs by Sunday evening, but still behind the regular front runners in the ITC in their WRCs.

Stages are based around Portumna on Saturday with service in Portumna mart and Gort on the Sunday with service in the Mart.

Im going for Jennings for the overall win with Boyle second with Cronin taking full points in the ITC and a third place podium along the way. Anyone around taking pictures, would love a few of Cronins DS3R5. Im hoping someone will release an R5 1/18 at some stage to go with my DS3r3 I built of Keiths BRC win

Looks like the conditions are taking their toll on cars in the West, McGarrity and Rafferty were non starters.

SS1 saw McNulty spin and clip a rock which damaged the rad

SS5 was the demise of Gallagher who was leading the Nationals in the S8 Impreza and actually 3rd overall in the combined results, car looks very second hand


SS6 saw the departure of the Boyles

current top 10s (after SS6) are
Main Field
1 Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy Subaru Impreza 7 36:10.2
2 Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble Ford Fiesta R5 5 38:03.7
3 Keith Cronin/Mikey Galvin Citroen DS3 R5 5 38:09.1
4 Desi Henry/Liam Moynihan Skoda Fabia R5 5 38:09.8
5 Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson Ford Fiesta   5 38:10.9
6 Roy White/James O'Brien Ford Fiesta WRC 7 38:25.9
7 Stephen Wright/James Fulton Ford Fiesta        5 38:43.9
8 Jonathan Greer/Kirsty Riddick Citroen DS3 R5 5 38:44.7
9 Josh Moffett/Jason McKenna Ford Fiesta        5     38:45.8
10 Joseph McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney Skoda S2000 5 38:59.3

Nationals
1 Eugene Meegan/Sarah Whelan BMW 1M 14 38:55.4
2 Wesley Patterson/Johnny Baird Ford Escort RS Mk2 14 39:16.5
3 Tom Flaherty/Patrick Curley Ford Escort RS 14 39:34.3
4 Jason McSweeney/Stephen Quin Mitsubishi Evo 9 20 39:47.5
5 Patrick McHugh/Pauric O'Donnell Ford Escort Mk2 13 39:48.9
6 Davy Armstrong/Martin McGarrity Ford Escort 14 40:01.5
7 Ross Marshall/Dave Robson Ford Escort Mk2 13 40:17.1
8 Andrew Fanning/Andy Hayes Ford Fiesta 20 40:47.6
9 Seamus Connolly/Gary McCrudden Toyota Corolla Twincam 11R 40:54.0
10 Declan Wilmott/Kieran Bailey Ford Escort Mk2 13 41:17.6

Read that Declan Boyle had quite a big off as well.

Picture doing the rounds on facebook and theres quite a lot of damage.

Should have put a bet on Jennings win and Cronin taking maximum points. 

Great battle between the R5s all weekend. Great to see a 3 way fight all weekend and even better in 3 difference manufacturers.

Was over on saturday. It was great to feel the buzz and interest around again. The R5's look and sound great, they may not be top dog but I think that it will be very competitive season among them.
Chatting to James in service he was saying the conditions were very poor and probably not great for the WRC cars. The 3 minute win might be greater when they hit dry tar.