Boyle tops seedings as Galway Rally set for the off

A capacity entry, headed by the current Irish Tarmac rally champion Declan Boyle from Donegal, has been confirmed for the Colm Quinn BMW Galway International Rally which takes place this weekend.

Galway Motor Club has also revealed that teams are coming from Germany, Austria, Australia and America in addition to numerous UK and Irish crews.

At the rally’s recent launch, Clerk of the Course, Kieran Donohue, said that Galway Motor Club was indebted to the staff of Galway County and City Councils, An Garda Siochana, Failte Ireland, the Road Safety Authority and Colm Quinn BMW for their support of the Rally.

He also paid tribute to the 300 volunteer marshals from all over Ireland and the residents along the various routes in Gort and the south of the county for their assistance with temporary road closures to ensure the safe running of the event.

The Rally will commence with a Ceremonial Start in Eyre Square on Friday evening at 8pm, following afternoon scrutineering of cars at the Colm Quinn BMW showrooms on the Tuam Road from 2pm. These are ideal opportunities to see the rally cars and drivers prior to the start of the competition.

Headquarters for the event is the Clayton Hotel and the rally route will cover six closed road stages on Saturday, February 7, and a further eight on the following day. The Service Park will be in Gort Mart each day, by kind permission of the Mart Committee.

Sunday evening will see the Ceremonial Finish back at the Colm Quinn premises on the Tuam Road from approximately 3.30pm. Admission to all events is free over the weekend.

The Official Rally Programme contains full listings of stage times, service area times, detailed Ordnance Survey Route Maps and all of the information required to locate the many spectatoraccess points. The Programme costs €10 and is available from the Clayton Hotel and fromvarious filling stations, newsagents and outlets in the city and county listed on the rally website, www.galwayinternationalrally.com

The entries have been seeded by the organisers and the rally winner is likely to come from one of the top 10 seeds. Seeded number 1 is the current Irish Tarmac rally champion, Declan Boyle from Donegal, with his cousin Brian Boyle co-driving.

Declan is driving a Subaru WRC car. He will be followed at 2 by Gary Jennings from Fermanagh and Rory Kennedy, also in a Subaru WRC. Number 3 is Eugene Donnelly from Maghera, co-driven by Paul Kiely, driving one of two MINI WRC rally cars entered by the event sponsor, Colm Quinn.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.