Garry Jennings survived a fraught finish to the Donegal International Rally to claim eighth overall. The Kesh driver had been as high as third on the opening day, but mechanical issues on the final day proved costly as he slipped down the overall classification.

In the historic section of the rally Newtownbutler’s Michael McDaid took overall victory in his Ford Escort RS1800.

Jennings came into the rally with his best chance of a podium finish in years following a recent upgrade to his Ford Fiesta Rally2, and that was confirmed by his opening stage time as he settled into third spot after the opening test.

The Friday stages were new territory for all the drivers as the rally ventured into the south of the county for three stages completed twice around Ballyshannon and Laghey.

The tight but fast stages seemed to suit Jennings and co-driver Rory Kennedy as they held onto third overall at the midpoint service, and although they had slipped to fourth at the end of the day, Jennings declared himself happy with his first day’s pace.

“It was going well on the first day,” he acknowledged. “The new stages were class and we really enjoyed it. The pace was there.”

Jennings held onto his fourth place over Saturday morning’s opening loop of more familiar Donegal stages as the drivers tackled Carnhill, Garrygort and Knockalla, but a hard charging Matt Edwards edged ahead of the Fermanagh man before the end of the day after the three time British Rally Champion had overcome day one mechanical issues.

The final day of the event brought challenging and changeable conditions for the drivers to contend with.

Localised thunderstorms meant a perfect tyre choice was impossible with some stages half dry and half wet, and the extreme weather conditions proved damaging to Jennings’ hopes of a late surge into a podium position as he hit trouble on the penultimate test.

“The car went into limp mode on Atlantic Drive,” he explained.

“She stopped twice and we had to keep resetting her. There was a bad downpour and thunder and lightning, and we spoke to the engineer afterwards and he said it was something to do with the air and the atmosphere with the storm, and the car couldn’t get enough air.

“We turned down the lag on the last stage but she went through it on three cylinders so there is something badly wrong somewhere. We got to the end, but we had gone from fourth to eighth.”

Michael McDaid was contesting the historic section of the rally in his Escort, and although he dropped time early in the event with a plug lead problem, he was quickly back to the top of the timesheets.

The historics omitted Friday’s stages and contested the final two days of the event, and it was the famous Knockalla test that helped earn McDaid the top spot.

He posted a time 17 seconds faster than his nearest rival to move from fourth to within a second of the lead, and when Tommy O’Connell dropped out on the next stage he assumed the lead and was never headed, eventually taking the victory with almost 30 seconds to spare.