Round 6 of the Hankook NI rally championship proved to be an eventful one for the Fermanagh man and with little experience of gravel rallying Jonny took a steady approach to the opening test, opting to learn the car and the new Hankook tyres in the tricky Benevenagh forest.

Picking the pace up on stages two and three the young Fermanagh man soon got to grips with his fiesta, trading times with the R2 fiesta of Barry Greer.

Stage 4 however, saw Leonard emerge with a stricken Fiesta,

“I carried a little too much speed on a 4R over crest and ran wide, got sucked into the loose gravel and ended up stuck against a tree.” This saw the crew loose a number of minutes but they were to continue on to the next two stages with only minimal damage.

With nothing to loose now the final two stages would be more of a test run, Jonny decided to change the suspension settings on his F.A.L. Hire machine to try and improve the handling. “I played about a little with the suspension settings and after a few changes I think the handling improved. I’m still learning the car and as I gather more experience I am more confident about changing the set-up”

After an eventful day’s rallying Jonny and co-driver Jackie Donaldson took their fiesta home in 28^th overall and first in class one.

“The event was a positive learning experience and I know now where I can improve my pace for the remaining gravel rounds. I thoroughly enjoyed the event and I was impressed with the level of grip available from the Hankook tyres, they worked really well.”

Now having 5 wins from 6 rounds Jonny and Jackie are virtually untouchable in the race for class honours in the Hankook series but with their home event the Lakeland Stages next up, they will be pushing for a good result.