18 year old Mark Donnelly, from Greencastle near Omagh has had an exceptional rallying season to date. Contesting the Hankook Northern Ireland Rally Championship, he leads the Group N category and lies fourth in the overall standings, as the Hankook series heads for the sixth round this weekend. Indeed it’s into the forests for the first time this season for the Dogleap Rally, something which Mark is looking forward to, and co-driver Stephen O’Hanlon will be on the pace-notes. Mark has just replaced his Group N Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8 with a newer Evo 9 model, which is being prepared by Kevin O’Brien of R317 Motorsport, and he is naturally excited. “I am looking forward to the event now. We did a rally in Scotland as a bit of a shake-down, and ironed out a few problems. I have also had a test in the car and it’s definitely a real improvement in terms of torque, power, and suspension than the Evo 8.”

The Stoneyford Concrete Evo 8 however had served the team well this season. After collecting points on the opening two airfield rounds where it was slightly outgunned by the newer cars, Mark took it to third in Group N on the Circuit of Ireland National event at Easter. “We were second in Group N, and then moved into the lead when Raymond Johnston went out, but we got a puncture and lost over 4 minutes. We climbed back to third and we had generally the fastest Group N stage times, so it set us up well going into the Sperrins.” On the Tour of the Sperrins however things really worked for the young Omagh crew with a fantastic Group N win after a day long battle with Cyril Doherty in his Subaru. It was a perfect drive, and set things up well for round five the Mourne Stages Rally. It was Mark’s first time contesting this event which is often thought of as a specialised rally, with its runs over the daunting Slieve Gullion complex, but it was to be the best drive of the season to date. An impressive third overall finish was the reward, and he collected maximum overall Hankook Championship points, as John McGlaughlin and Darren Gass ahead of him weren’t registered for the series. “We were fourth going into the last loop and had a real push. We were equal second fastest on the penultimate stage and second fastest overall on the final stage, and we really enjoyed the event. Indeed we have really enjoyed the Hankook championship to date, and one thing we have been very pleased with is the performance of the tyres, even relative to other brands we had been using.”

The young Greencastle driver’s rallying started two years ago with a Peugeot 205, contesting events at Aghadowey, before progressing to an ST Fiesta which brought several class wins, and then a Group N Subaru before acquiring the Evo 8. Up until recently however rallying has been secondary to Quad Racing, as Mark literally reached the top of the sport, despite being the youngest in the adult field having started when he was 14. In 2008 he won the Irish Championship, P&O Irish Winter series, the British Championship and the European Quad Racing championship, with further championship wins in 2007, but rallying is what he now really wants to do.

“I can’t really go much further with the Quads and I have the opportunity to race for a works team with all my expenses paid in Switzerland, but rallying is the real focus now. We thought this year we could do some Quad Racing as well, but with so many date clashes and time constraints we have just concentrated on the rallying.”

Another venture this month is an entry into the Todds Leap Ulster International Rally, where Mark will get a chance to compare his times with Britain’s best, but the main focus this season is on the Hankook Northern Ireland Championship, where event overall honours are not out of the question. Mark will be one to watch on this Saturday’s Dogleap Rally which like the previous two rounds will be televised on RPM.

Issued by Andrew Bushe Promotions www.andrewbushe.com

Photo by Roy Dempster via Rally Buzz.