Alastair Fisher still leads the Irish Tarmac Championship after an incident packed Donegal Rally, but for Garry Jennings there was early disappointment as he retired his Subaru after the first stage.
Fisher went into the three day event leading the championship and in the early stages of the rally he looked set to extend his advantage as he headed all his rivals.
 But an accident midway through Saturday ended his hopes of victory and he had to cling on to fifth place to ensure he retains a share of the series lead with two rounds remaining.
Keith Cronin and Fisher have been swapping seconds on every round this year but in Donegal it was Cronin who made a lightning fast start, opening up a lead of 16 seconds by the first service. 
That lead evaporated when he picked up a puncture however, and Alastair ended the day five seconds ahead of the chasing pack, with Cronin 45 seconds adrift. 
After the first four Saturday stages Alastair had further increased his lead to 18 seconds, but his hopes of taking maximum points were ended when he left his braking too late for a chicane.
“Everyone was pushing very hard and the pace was up a bit from the previous rounds but we were enjoying it and we had got a small lead,” said Alastair. 
“Then we out braked ourselves into the chicane on Carnhill. 
“We were at 90 degrees to the road and I reversed back to try and get turned and dropped the back wheels into the ditch. 
“We were sitting see-sawing on the edge of the road and we had to get the spectators to push us back out. 
“We lost about two and a half minutes on that stage and then we broke a front driveshaft trying to get her out so we dropped another minute and a half on the next stage. 
“That left us well out of contention.”
The accident dropped him to back to sixth in class, but he managed to move back to fifth and keep his title hopes alive. 
“We were lucky to get pushed out of the hedge where we got stuck, but we salvaged fifth placed points, which was quite positives after the issues we had,” he reflected.
In contrast Garry Jennings was struggling to take any positives from an event that ended after just one stage. 
The defending champion was fresh from a victory on the Newry and Mourne Rally and was favourite to retain his crown, but he hit trouble on the opening test. 
Despite setting a time just two seconds down on Declan Boyle, Jennings’ engine had cried enough and he was forced to stop his Subaru at the side of the road on his way to the second stage.
Martin McGarrity was navigating for David Armstrong, and the pair had a solid drive in their Escort to take second in class fourteen and twenty first overall in the national rally.