Second Irish title for Jennings
Editorial Department • Published 6 Oct 2011 16:00
0 Comments
Garry Jennings is the Group N Irish Tarmac Champion for the second time, following last weekend's Cork 20 Rally.
The Kesh driver took the Group N honours on the final round and finished third overall in his Mitsubishi Evo, with fellow Fermanagh driver William Mavitty claiming sixth overall and third in group N.
On the Friday night the driver's faced the unusual challenge of night time stages, and the conditions were made even more difficult by heavy fog which had descended on the stages. It was conditions that Garry revelled in however, as the World Rally Cars were unable to make use of their extra power.
Despite a minor off road excursion on stage two, Garry had edged into the lead on stage three and was hoping to extend his advantage in the difficult conditions, but with the fog getting heavier organisers decided to cancel the final two stages of the day leaving Garry with a slender overnight lead of two seconds. His man objective was Group N success however, and he led the category by 16 seconds. William Mavitty also managed to navigate the difficult stages, finishing the day sixth in group N and on the edge of the top ten overall.
The fog remained settled over Cork as the second day dawned, meaning the opening two stages of the morning were also cancelled, and once battled resumed the World Rally Cars were immediately able to take advantage of the drying roads.
"If they had let the stages run it might have given me a chance to open out a bit more of a lead and left it harder for them to catch me," said Garry. "Once the fog lifted and it dried up they had the power and I got blown away."
Throughout the rest of the day both Darragh O'Riordan and Tim McNulty continued to pull away, but Garry was holding a comfortable third and continuing to increase his advantage in Group N, eventually winning the class by over 3 minutes. William Mavitty made steady progress up the leader board during the day, closing the event third in Group N.
For Garry it was a successful season that started slowly. He did not compete in the season opener in Galway, and his first series appearance on the Circuit of Ireland ended when he rolled into retirement.
He also skipped Killarney before he stared a series of three Group N victories that would carry him to the title. Wins on the Donegal Rally, the Ulster and finally in Cork was good enough to clinch championship success.
Garry is straight back into action this weekend on the Donegal based Harvest Rally, although he is still undecided as to whether he will be competing in his familiar Mitsubishi, or a WRC Subaru.
This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 06 Oct 11
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Sport archives.
