Two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä starred at Saturday’s Killarney Historic Rally in Ireland, but it was Donagh Kelly who scored a first win on the event in his BMW M3.
Two stages in and the Kelly household had locked in a provisional one-two, with Eamonn leading his father by four seconds in another M3. Sadly for the younger of the two Kellys, his rally ended one stage later when he went off the road, pinged a few trees and took a wheel off.
Donagh, however, was inch-perfect, keeping his M3 on the straight and narrow despite day-long rain which was, at times, torrential.
The winner said: “I’ve been chasing this one for a while and now we have it. Killarney’s been very kind to me with two wins on the Lakes and now the historic. I can’t complain. Eamonn’s day will come, he’s a class driver.”
Donagh Kelly saw off his son's challenge to take a fine win on the Killarney Historic Rally
Rovanperä’s hopes of a debut Irish win were dashed when the Toyota Starlet cut out on the opening stage. Almost five minutes were lost to an electrical glitch which turned out to be relay-related.
Talking to DirtFish at the end of the Moll’s Gap opener, the Finn was philosophical.
“I don’t know what it was,” he said. “The engine just stopped. We tried a few things, but then it just fired up a few minutes later and it ran fine to the finish. It’s a shame, it was so much fun going up the hill.”
Co-driver Jonne Halttunen cleared up the roadside repair question, adding: “The local people here are really good with cars. We opened the bonnet and they came and fiddled with some things and then it was working again.”
Rovanperä had an absolute ball driving Jason Black's 380bhp Toyota Starlet
Jason Black’s stunning Starlet didn’t miss a beat for the remaining seven stages. And Rovanperä’s smile just got wider and wider.
With his hopes of the class gone, the next priority was a scratch on Moll’s Gap second time through. He did it. Just.
Local hero Rob Duggan’s Ford Escort was just 1.5 seconds down on the factory Toyota driver.
“I wanted that one,” said Rovanperä. “Everybody had talked about Moll’s Gap being special and it was probably my favourite stage. I knew nobody had beaten Rob Duggan in this one, so it was nice to do. I think he lives at one end of the stage and goes to work at the other end, so he knows the road quite well. I have to say, he was quick – the other drivers were really fast on this event.”
Duggan remains the master of the modified class aboard his Ford Escort Mk2.
Duggan was the dominant force in the modified class, taking the win by 18.6s from Declan Gallagher’s Starlet.
The modified master smiled at the finish, saying: “It took a two-time world champion to beat me up the Gap. I’m OK with that.”
While the modified cars were quicker across the day’s eight stages, this being a historic event, the focus was on the period cars.
Following Kelly home was Tomas Davies in a Ford Escort Mk 2, with John O’Donnell’s M3 taking the final podium place – last year’s winners Jonny Greer and Niall Burns were ruled out of the running for back-to-back success after a turbo pipe worked loose on their Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4×4.
Ultimately, it was the fans who braved the conditions who were the real winners on Saturday. Chapeau to Paul Nagle and Aaron Johnston for making it happen – last week a couple of world champions arrived in town as strangers and left with friends by the thousand.
