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Roy Dempster - www.roydempster.com
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RELEASE-PRESS
For
Immediate Release: 5th April 2010
Second
Citroen Racing Trophy Victory for Mark Donnelly
On the Circuit of Ireland
For
18 year old Omagh rally driver Mark Donnelly it's been a fabulous
two weeks, as he contests both the Citroen Racing Trophy UK
and Irish Championships this year with his Citroen C2. A victory
on last weekend's Circuit of Ireland, round two of the Irish
series, came just one week after victory on the Bulldog International
forest event in Wales, and with €5000 prize money from
Citroen Racing for each round win, young Mark is understandably
delighted. "It's been a great couple of weeks for sure,
and Robbie McGurk and the boys have done a great job in getting
the car turned around from gravel to tarmac specification in
one week. We were lucky at the weekend on the Circuit of Ireland,
the result kind of fell for us towards the end, but that's the
way rallying goes."
The
Circuit of Ireland event this year was over two tough days,
with the first night featuring a really challenging 18 mile
night time stage, a stage which considerably changed the rally
results sheets. For Mark and co-driver Paddy Robinson the event
began steadily but rapidly, lying fourth of the C2's after stage
2, before moving up to third after stage 4. Rain belted down
for the late afternoon loop, but after six stages Mark was 36
seconds off the lead in third, and just seven seconds behind
second placed Robert Barrable. The C2 was running well, but
in rallying improvements can always be made. "We had tested
the car on the Mayo event, and I felt I had a good set up, but
the muddier, bumpier roads on the Circuit were slightly different,
and I need to make some more improvements to the handling. It's
a good car in fact that we are learning more and more about
how to fine tune the suspension, which will hopefully help me
in the future to understand how to make rally cars work better."
The
final loop of three stages on day plunged the crews into darkness
and the dramas really began, even for Mark! "The 18 mile
night stage wasn't easy! There was a lot of mud on the road
and we got caught out on a tight left hand bend. I thought I
had backed off plenty for it, but the back end of the car came
around and we spun, and clipped a bank. It bent the rear suspension
in the car, and we crawled out of the stage, and lost quite
a bit of time. Robbie and the Motor Sport Service Team did a
great job however and replaced the whole rear suspension in
the next morning's service." The long night time test had
claimed second placed Robert Barrable, which let Mark into second
and pressure from behind was eased as Shane Buckley also had
an excursion.
Mark started day two's six stages, 2 minutes 51 seconds behind
C2 leader Martin McCormack. "Really in this position all
we could do was to hold onto second place, and we had a comfortable
buffer to third. Then on the third last stage we passed Marty
who was on three wheels! I thought he was out of the rally and
we cruised through the final two stages. We were struggling
ourselves at this stage too. The oil pressure warning light
was flickering on and off under heavy braking and acceleration,
so we had to back off to preserve the engine. It was very close
in the end, just 5 seconds, and if I had known Marty had got
the car repaired again I would have revved the engine a bit
harder! "
So
at the Newry town hall finish Mark celebrated his second Citroen
Racing Trophy win in two weeks. It's a result that moves him
into joint second place in the series with the next round in
Killarney in May, but the next event for the team is the forthcoming
British C2 round, the Pirelli Rally in Carlisle.
Issued by Andrew Bushe Promotions www.andrewbushe.com
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