Eugene Donnelly wins first time out since rejoining the fold

Galway International Rally (Jan 16-18)The Galway rally was a highly memorable one for Kumho as the outright winner and four of the first seven cars were shod with the company’s competition tyres. Outright victory went on this, the first round of the 2009 Irish Tarmac Championship, to Eugene Donnelly and Paddy Toner in a Skoda Fabia WRC. Four times Irish Tarmac Champion Donnelly was back on Kumho tyres for the first time since 2007 and was quick to praise their part in his victory. “The conditions on both days were atrocious. There was standing water, rain and hailstones pounding the windscreen, plus the occasional patch of ice, but our Kumho Tyres worked extremely well throughout.”

Fifth overall and first in Group N were Anthony O’Halloran and Charlie McEnery in a Mitsubishi Evo 9; sixth overall and second in Group N were Sean Flanagan and Brian Duggan in a Subaru Impreza; seventh overall, and the first two-wheel drive car home, were Tommy Doyle and Tony McDaid in a Renault Clio RS – all were running Kumho tyres.

Jack Frost Stages Rally (Jan 18)Penrith driver Paul Bird saw off some strong opposition to win the Cartersport Jack Frost Stages Rally at Croft in North Yorks – his first victory on this event. Bird and his co-driver Ian Windress were campaigning a Kumho-shod Subaru Impreza WRC S9. A man of many talents, Bird is a poultry farmer by trade and also the owner of the Kawasaki World Superbike Team. He joked, “Now I’ve won an event I’m hoping my superbike riders can do likewise in the World Championship!”

Said the manager of Kumho’s European Motorsport Division, Steve Thompson, “This was a great way to begin the season and we clearly hope the year continues in the same way. We are particularly delighted to have Eugene Donnelly back in the fold – a man who achieved many successes on Kumho tyres in the past and looks like doing so in the future too.”