Jardine and Hamilton in Donegal setback

Sky Sports News F1 analyst Tony Jardine and TalkSPORT Radios F1 Correspondent Maurice Hamilton run of bad luck continued Saturday at the 2013 Donegal International Rally.The ProSpeed team had managed some sterling work on Friday to keep the intrepid duo in the event, with help from Richard Hogg, when a replacement propshaft had been sourced and fitted to the car. The car was re-scrutineered and placed in Parc Ferme over night.The crew made their way to Service  based in Milford, north of Letterkenny and prepared for the wet stages that lay ahead. The opening Garrygort stage of the day began, almost directly out of service and Tony and Maurice headed into it, happy that the MIS Motorsport Mitsubishi was well equipped with Kumho Intermediate tyres, acknowledged as the best there is.Sadly though, seven miles into the stage, on a high speed section of the stage there was a loud bang from the rear of the car and Tony knew immediately that the event was over, differential failure being the end result. Tony explained I knew as soon as I heard the bang from the rear of the car it was over, the noise was so loud that I could not hear Maurice reply when I asked how far to the end of the stage. He went on to add Its very disappointing for everyone involved, after so much preparation and hard work that has been put in by all of us for this years event. Normally we have a great finishing record, but this time the mechanical gremlins hit us hardFor Maurice, it was an unfortunate end to his Donegal International weekend with the team, and he said There is no doubt that for all of us, it has been very trying time and a disappointing way to finish, but the welcome and support we have had since we got here, has made up for it. The reception from the Marshals and fans where we were has been superb, and its what makes Donegal so very special.On returning to Rally HQ, the Mount Errigal Tony had time to reflect on a disappointing few days and said, We are going to have to come back again next year, and make up for this one. We finished 14th last year, so its a challenge now. I just want to thank Damien Crawford, Chairman of Donegal Motor Club, and all the members of the club who supported us all weekend. We also want to thank the Marshals, Fans and other Teams in the Service Park that made us so welcome here this weekend, we will be back, so much so that Maurice and I started plans for next year on the way back to Letterkenny

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