Garry Jennings finished on the podium at the Donegal International Rally, claiming third place behind Declan Boyle and Sam Moffatt.  The Kesh driver went into the rally hoping to win it for the second time, but after dropping time on day one of the three day event he struggled to overhaul both Boyle and Moffatt and eventually had to be content with third.

Jennings has proved himself to be the driver to beat in Donegal in recent years, and although he was third after the opening stages he was within a few seconds of the two leaders before losing time on the fifth stage. It was time that he was never able to haul back.

“We were right on the pace until stage five,” said Garry. “We were only a couple of seconds a stage off the top boys and then we had problems with the launch control and dropped 20 seconds on the start line. The car behind us was nearly ready to start whenever we took off. We knew then it was over and it was a matter of consolidating third or fourth place, because the gap was too big to first and second. I was just trying to conserve the car and try to get through and get as much done on the set up of the car for next year.” The battle for the final podium position developed into a fight between Jennings and former Irish Tarmac Champion Darren Gass. Gass edged ahead on the final Friday stage to hold a slender two second advantage and after four stages on Saturday, including two runs over the legendary Knockalla test, he had further extended his advantage to 16 seconds. The duel came to an end on stage 13 however when Gass crashed out of the rally, handing third to the Fermanagh man.

With a sizeable gap in front and behind it appeared to be a routine final day for Garry, but his event almost came to an end on the penultimate stage when his car suffered a fire under the bonnet.

“The car went on fire on the second last stage,” he revealed. “She blew the fluid out from the gearbox on to the hot turbo and she went on fire on the stage. When she was going flat out she put the flames out but when we slowed down at the finish it came up again. Luckily we got it out and there was little damage.” The result leaves Garry with only a slim chance of retaining his Tarmac title but he will contest the next round, the Enniskillen based Ulster Rally, before making a decision on the rest of the season. Prior to that he will be in action again this Saturday at the Lurgan Park Rally. He piloted his Subaru to victory around the tight lanes of the park last season, and he starts at number one this year as he looks to notch a second successive victory. Another local driver, Johnny Leonard, will also contest the event in his Mitsubishi.