2024 Killarney Towers Hotel Historic Stages Rally

Historic Category

Donagh Kelly and Rory Kennedy sealed a memorable victory on the Killarney Historic Rally, finishing one place better than their result 12 months earlier.

The BMW M3 crew finished 23.7 seconds ahead of Tomas Davies and Shane Buckley’s Ford Escort RS1800. It was a perfect start to the defense of Davies’ Wales Motorsport Fabrication Historic Irish Tarmac Rally Championship crown as he picked up top points on the first round of the 2025 NAPA Auto Parts Irish Tarmac Championship.

John O’Donnell completed the Killarney Historic Rally podium on his first visit to Killarney since switching to the increasingly popular BMW M3. The Donegal driver found a great turn of pace as the single-day event progressed, climbing from ninth after the opening stage. O’Donnell’s co-driver Paddy Robinson secured top co-drivers’ points in the Wales Motorsport Historic ITRC opener.

Junior WRC crew, Eamonn Kelly and Conor Mohan, took the early Killarney Historic lead after a mighty sunrise effort through Moll’s Gap. Kelly went eight seconds faster than Davies through Killarney’s opener but his run at the front ended after falling off the road on Caragh Lake.

His father Donagh inherited the lead on stage three, controlling it until the rally’s close in darkness on Saturday evening.

Davies, meanwhile, slipped 16.5 seconds behind Kelly and his focus turned to 2022 Historic Irish Tarmac Rally Champions Neil Williams and Anthony O’Sullivan.

Williams finished stage three 12.5 seconds off Davies’ pace with Denis Moynihan a further 7.6 seconds back in fourth.

A spin on stage four, Moll’s Gap, cost Moynihan a bundle of time as he slipped back to 10th. That opened up a three-way fight for fourth spot. It was three BMW M3s fighting for position with Fergus O’Meara enjoying his M3 debut to grab fourth on Moll’s Gap. 5.6 seconds covered O’Meara, O’Donnell, and Alan Ring at Killarney’s halfway point.

Their fight for fourth became a fight for third when Williams and O’Sullivan were left stranded on Caragh Lake with a broken timing belt.

O’Meara’s positive M3 debut ran into trouble on Killarney’s penultimate test, a wet Kilcummin. A spin cost O’Meara the guts of 30 seconds, leaving him fifth overall with one stage to go.

Meanwhile, O’Donnell was going from strength to strength and caught O’Meara through the same stage. The Donegal driver’s push gave him his first stage win of the day, putting him into the podium places.

O’Donnell held onto his podium spot with a strong time through Killarney’s finale. His effort was only bettered by Cathan McCourt who was charging back from mechanical woes on Saturday morning. McCourt’s stage win propelled him ahead of Ring and O’Meara to finish fourth.

Ring and Adrian Deasy rounded out the top five, 22.1 seconds ahead of Mark Falvey and James O’Brien.

O’Meara fell out of the top five in Killarney’s final night-stage. A hard-charging Greer nipped ahead of him by two seconds on the decisive test, leaving O’Meara eighth. The local pilot has many positives from his M3 debut, including third-placed Wales Motorsport Historic ITRC points.

Peadar and Grace Walsh increased their speed through Killarney’s eight stages to take top points in Category 2. The Ford Escort RS1600 crew’s fight back to 22nd overall was enough to give Grace second-placed points in Historic ITRC’s co-drivers’ championship.

Less than five seconds behind, Alan Watkins was delighted to claim a class win aboard his Ford Escort RS1800. Watkins and Eoghan McCarthy sealed maximum points in Category 3.

Top points in ITRC’s Class H4 went to Endaf Owens and Tommy Commane while Declan Jackson and James McCarney sealed ITRC’s Class H6 honours.

Killarney Historic Rally top five

1. Donagh Kelly / Rory Kennedy (BMW M3) 1:02:06.4

2. Tomas Davies / Shane Buckley (Ford Escort RS1800) +23.7s 

3. John O’Donnell / Paddy Robinson (BMW M3) +44.2

4. Cathan McCourt / Barry McNulty (Ford Escort RS1800) +1:15.0

5. Alan Ring / Adrian Deasy (BMW M3) +1:20.1

Modified Category

Running tandem with the Historics is the now iconic Modified Category. Modern modifications are permitted in these cars which allows entrants to push to the edges of technology and pace.  This section of the event always attracts a plethora of Irelands top Modified rally crews year on year.  2024 however, the category shot into the stratosphere with an entry by Double World Rally Champions Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen in Jason Black’s BMV Rally Team Toyota Starlet.  

Rovanpera in his ascendency into the sport took the rallying world by storm, entering WRC2 days after his 17th birthday. Two years later he became WRC2 champion before becoming the youngest ever World Rally Champion at just 22 years old in 2022.  Kalle successfully defended his world title in 2023 before switching to a part-time programme in 2024.  He is now back full time for 2025.

Kalle and Jonne, however were not going to have it their own way with several previous winners present to take them on.  These former winners included Robert Duggan / Ger Conway, Colin O’Donoghue / Kieran O’Donoghue, Declan Gallagher / John McCarthy, Kevin Eves / Chris Melly and Chris Armstrong / Conor Smith to name but a few.  Challenges by others hungry for their debut win such as Conor Murphy / Sean Collins, Daniel McKenna / Andrew Grennan and others also couldn’t be discounted.

Unfortunately, Rovanperä’s hopes of a debut Irish win were dashed when the Toyota Starlet cut out on the opening stage Molls Gap. Almost five minutes were lost to an electrical glitch which turned out to be relay-related.  And with that, the fight for the event win was left to the others.  

Quickest out of the blocks was the Ford Escort Mk2 of Rob Duggan & Ger Conway who stormed to a 15 second lead after Stage 1, Molls Gap.  The crew weren’t going to have it their own way though.  A slight mechanical niggle through Stages 2 and 3 Ballaghbeama and Caragh Lake saw the others claw back some time with the Escort crew leading by just 3.1 seconds going into first service from the Toyota Starlet of Declan Gallagher / John McCarthy with Colin O’Donoghue / Kieran O’Donoghue in third.

With the issue fixed and drama averted Rob Duggan / Ger Conway set another fast time on Molls Gap 2.  However, it was the resurgent Double World Champions who took quickest time through the stage beating the Killarney crew by 1.5 seconds in a case of what might have been.  Duggan / Conway responded with a fastest time again on Ballaghbeama and a third fastest time on Caragh Lake to lead the event by 16.3 seconds into the second service, again from the Toyota Starlet of Declan Gallagher / John McCarthy with Colin O’Donoghue / Kieran O’Donoghue in third.

The final two stages of the event were Kilcummin completed initially in daylight and then under the cover of darkness.  Rob and Ger again took another fastest time on the first daylight pass to lead by 20.5 seconds from the Donegal / Kerry pairing of Gallagher / McCarthy with Colin O’Donoghue / Kieran O’Donoghue third and Jonathan Pringle / Pierce O’Callaghan fourth.

With darkness on the final stage drama felled the fourth placed crew of Pringle / O’Callaghan with a lighting issue on the Escort which caused them to tumble down the leader board.  Luckly, no dramas for the others with Declan Gallagher / John McCarthy taking the stage win but overall victory once again to the local crew of Rob Duggan / Ger Conway in the Ford Escort.

Following their first stage issue Double World Champions Kalle Rovanpera and Jonne Halttunen battled back to take 15th Overall taking two fastest stage times along the way.  

Killarney Historic Rally Modified Category top five

1. Rob Duggan / Ger Conway (Ford Escort Mk2) 57:12.3

2. Declan Gallagher / John McCarthy (Toyota Starlet) +18.6s 

3. Colin O’Donoghue / Kieran O’Donoghue (Ford Escort Mk2) +1:29.6s

4. Daniel McKenna / Andrew Grennan (Ford Escort Mk2) +2:01.0s

5. Gary Kiernan / John McCabe(Ford Escort Mk2)+2:08.2