Donagh Kelly and Rory Kennedy retain title in Killarney
Donagh Kelly and Rory Kennedy were going to Killarney as the defending champions, and they backed it up with a narrow win from John O'Donnell and Paddy Robinson
The Donegal pairing of Donagh Kelly/Rory Kennedy have retained their title at the Killarney Historic Rally.
Having won the event together last year, Frosses man Kelly and Kennedy from Letterkenny would have been hopeful of retaining the title.
And they did take the win, but they ran out very narrow victors, winning from Kilmacrennan’s John O’Donnell and Paddy Robinson by 1.5 seconds.
Robert Duggan and Ger Conway were back in third, 5.2 seconds off the winners.
The top 20 is as follows.
| O/A | Car | Driver/Codriver | Make | Class | Pos | Total | Diff 1st | Diff Prev |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Donagh Kelly/Rory Kennedy | BMW M3 e30 | K | O/A | 1:01:54.7 | ||
| 2 | 5 | John O'Donnell/Paddy Robinson | BMW M3 | K | O/A | 1:01:56.2 | 0:01.5 | 0:01.5 |
| 3 | 3 | Robert Duggan/Ger Conway | Ford Escort | D5 | O/A | 1:01:59.9 | 0:05.2 | 0:03.7 |
| 4 | 15 | Conor Shanahan/Andy Hayes | BMW M3 | K | 1 | 1:03:24.9 | 1:30.2 | 1:25.0 |
| 5 | 9 | Fergus O'Meara/Brian Duggan | BMW M3 | K | 2 | 1:04:06.6 | 2:11.9 | 0:41.7 |
| 6 | 25 | Stephen Greaney/Jonathan Folan | Toyota Corolla WRC | O | 1 | 1:04:09.3 | 2:14.6 | 0:02.7 |
| 7 | 19 | John Bonner/John Michael O'Donnell | Ford MK2 Escort | D5 | 1 | 1:05:19.4 | 3:24.7 | 1:10.1 |
| 8 | 17 | Michael McDaid/Denver Rafferty | Ford Escort | D5 | 2 | 1:05:47.0 | 3:52.3 | 0:27.6 |
| 9 | 12 | Neil Williams/John Falvey | Ford Escort RS1800 | D5 | 3 | 1:06:01.3 | 4:06.6 | 0:14.3 |
| 10 | 20 | Tommy McDonagh/Paul Murphy | Ford Escort | D5 | 4 | 1:06:30.6 | 4:35.9 | 0:29.3 |
| 11 | 8 | Patrick Snijers/Davy Thierie | BMW M3 | F4 | 1 | 1:06:35.8 | 4:41.1 | 0:05.2 |
| 12 | 33 | Ronan Campbell/Chrisy Corry | Ford Escort Mk2 | K | 3 | 1:07:26.7 | 5:32.0 | 0:50.9 |
| 13 | 18 | Phil Rogers/Conor Moloughney | Ford Escort | D5 | 5 | 1:07:54.8 | 6:00.1 | 0:28.1 |
| 14 | 22 | Adrian Evans/Jordan Jones | BMW E30 M3 | K | 4 | 1:08:17.6 | 6:22.9 | 0:22.8 |
| 15 | 34 | Aidan Long/Rory O'Donoghue | BMW M3 | F4 | 2 | 1:09:15.1 | 7:20.4 | 0:57.5 |
| 16 | 32 | Walter Dick/Gerard Hartigan | Ford Escort Mk2 | D5 | 6 | 1:09:40.5 | 7:45.8 | 0:25.4 |
| 17 | 30 | Peadar Walsh/Grace Walsh | Ford Escort Mk1 | C5 | O/A | 1:09:54.3 | 7:59.6 | 0:13.8 |
| 18 | 23 | Andrew Johnson/Jim McSherry | Vauxhall Chevette HSR | D5 | 7 | 1:09:55.7 | 8:01.0 | 0:01.4 |
| 19 | 29 | Michael Cullen/Sean Hassett | BMW E30 M3 | K | 5 | 1:09:55.9 | 8:01.2 | 0:00.2 |
| 20 | 35 | Keith Lyons/JJ Cremin | Ford Escort RS1800 | D5 | 8 | 1:10:02.8 | 8:08.1 | 0:06.9 |