RALLY IRELAND CHALLENGES WRC DRIVERS
IRISH TAKE FIRST AND SECOND – WRC DRIVERS
CARLSSON AND ATKINSON TAKE THIRD AND FOURTH
Rally Ireland, IrelandÂ’s bid event for the World Rally Championship, concluded this afternoon in Sligo city with IrelandÂ’s Eugene Donnelly taking first, Eamon Boland taking second, Swedish WRC driver (currently ranked 6th) Daniel Carlsson took third and Australian WRC driver Chris Atkinson (ranked 9th) winner of Group N, finished in fourth place overall.
Commenting on the event, Rally Ireland 2006 winner, Eugene Donnelly said: "It would be a dream come true for someone like me who is a true rallyman at heart to have the WRC come to Ireland. WeÂ’ve shown that we can provide great challenging stages and inject new ingredients into WRC that will make it special and unique. And IÂ’m delighted to win Rally Ireland."
Chris Atkinson said: ”These are great challenging stages. I'd love to tackle them in my regular WRC car and hope I get a chance to do just that when Rally Ireland gets into the World Championships.”
Sweden's Daniel Carlsson: "This is my second time in Ireland and the stages and atmosphere are great. It is would be a real challenge for the top WRC drivers. It would be great to see Rally Ireland in the WRC.
Gareth MacHale, disappointed to have crashed out of the Rally in Stage 8, looks forward to the prospect of a WRC event in Ireland: “Per capita we have more WRC cars than any other country and the fan base is amazing; they have a great loyalty to the sport. Our roads are unique, the sort of tarmac roads you don't have anywhere else. If it does get into the WRC, which I hope it will, it will be very challenging for the top international teams and drivers.”
Despite retiring on Day 1, French Champion Nicolas Bernardi was impressed with what he saw: "It is very different tarmac to what I am used to in France. The stages are safe and I think Rally Ireland can fit into the WRC calendar very easily as a tarmac round of the championship. People here are very friendly and crazy about rallying."
ally Ireland Results
1 Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC) 2.20.35.1
2 Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Ford Focus WRC) 2.22.32.9
3 Daniel Carlsson/Jonas Andersson (Mitsubishi Lancer WRC) 2.25.06.7
4 Chris Atkinson/Glenn Macneall (Subaru Impreza N12) GpN 2.26.06.0
5 Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Subaru Impreza WRC) 2.28.35.5
6 Aaron MacHale/Ger McMonagle (Toyota Corolla WRC) 2.32.37.3
7 Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) GpN 2.32.37.3
8 Shaun Gallagher/Charlie McGinty (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) GpN 2.35.31.3
9 Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8) GpN 2.36.43.4
10 Conor McCloskey/Crawford Henderson (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8.5) GpN 2.37.01.2
Rally Ireland Day 2 video now online
in the downloads section
http://irishrallyvideos.com
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Wink
Live results are also available on
http://www.wrc.com/page/OverviewUO/0,,10111~200620
