Donagh Kelly & Rory Kennedy retained there top spot at the Killarney Historic Rally as Kris Meeke had to retire late on in the day.
Meeke and co-driver Noel O’Sullivan whwre in cruise mode approaching stage 8 but things started to go wrong for the Northern Irishman.
At the end of the stage, Kris suggested that a misfire had occurred in his MATS BMW M3 shrinking his lead which was over a minute and half to just 35 seconds.
They managed to return to service but it was clear that they did hit engine bother on the first pass down Molls Gap and in one swoop it was a race against time to get the car fixed.
The gap between the 2 leading BMW’s (Donagh Kelly) was just 35s. John O’Donnell 15.5s who was back in third, but the Donegal man’s BMW was smoky on the first run down the Gap.
Kris Meeke and Noel O’Sullivan in the end to had to retire from the rally lead which inherit the lead to Kelly and Kennedy.
But by just 1.5s, it was Donagh Kelly and Rory Kennedy who took their second successive win on the event, the pair dedicating the victory to the late, great Bertie Fisher whom Rory had partnered to victory in the 1990 International Lakes aboard a Prodrive BMW M3, some 35 years ago.
It was John O’ Donnell and Paddy Robinson who closed in to within a whisker of their Donegal counterparts. Rob Duggan and Ger Conway who put in a sensational drive down the Gap in the dark, catching the leading BMW on the descent, claimed 3rd for the Kerry pair, just 5.2s back from victory.
In the modified section, Colin and Kieran O’ Donoghue put in a fabulous drive to take victory on their home event, with Chris Armstrong and Conor Smith coming through strongly to claim second with Gary Mcphillips and Conor Mohan rounding out the top 3.
