Declan Boyle in action during the Galway Rally.
BY LIAM PORTER
Galway International Rally winner Declan Boyle has said he feared his engine would blow at one point during his victory last weekend in the Colm Quinn BMW Galway International Rally.
Boyle and his cousin Brian finished on the podium ahead of defending Tarmac Champion Garry Jennings and co-driver Rory Kennedy, but not without having some problems along the way.
“We had pressure building up in the coolant and at the end of every stage we had to release the pressure, at one point I was afraid the engine would blow up, but thankfully we got back in time to get the pressure released.”
On a weekend of atrocious weather conditions, the coolant problems were just an added stress to the Donegal duo as they battled to maintain the lead they built up over the Saturday stages.
“There was rain and much and floods, it was horrible but that’s rallying you have to deal with whatever conditions are there, but the coolant issue was just an extra worry when you are trying to drive in conditions like that.”
Having built up a commanding lead, the Boyles saw it slashed back at one point to just one fifth of a second as Jennings and Kennedy piled on the pressure on the Sunday, but a spin saw them lose ground once again.
“Garry and Rory were chasing us down on the Sunday alright but when they took a spin off we managed to stay ahead. It was a great way to start the year and it was brilliant to get our first International win.”
Having secured that Galway win Declan is already looking ahead to the Circuit of Ireland.
“When you win a rally like Galway it’s great not just for myself and Brian, but also for all the service crew and the sponsors and the whole team who are involved every time we go out to race. It was a fantastic feeling to get the win and it has us really looking ahead now to the Circuit of Ireland and hopefully more success this season,” he concluded.
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