Donnelly & Brady the top dogs on the Lakeland Stages

Mark Donnelly and Martin Brady gave their Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 the debut of their dreams on the 2026 Lakeland Stages Rally with an overall victory that sees them move into the lead of the Trailer Parts and Spares Irish Forestry Rally Championship with three rounds left to go.

Even though their focus was just on bringing their new car home, the pairing were fastest out of the blocks on the opening test at Lough Navar. The stages were typical Lakeland fare, with high speeds and impressive jumps, and crews had to deal with a fairly slippery surface on the opening loop. Despite this, Donnelly and Brady were nearly unstoppable throughout the day, taking five stage wins out of six to come home with a 12.4 second advantage over 2022 Champions Patrick and Stephen O’Brien and take their second win of the season.

With the O’Briens not registered for points, Donnelly’s main Forestry Championship rivals were Jordan and Paul Hone in a similar Skoda. Their day reflected their season so far this year as they took second on the first stage and didn’t relinquish it all day, taking their third second place points finish of the season in the process.

The battle for third was one which heated up as the day went on. Josh Moffett and Andy Hayes were the Championship leaders going to Enniskillen but they never quite got up to the pace of the leaders and struggled with various minor mechanical maladies throughout the day. It was Stephen Dickson and Ben Teggart who held third for most of the day, putting in some impressive stage times throughout the morning loop. Moffett seemed a bit happier with the car on the second and final loop and managed to successfully reel in Dickson, bettering his fourth place in Connacht which could prove vital for his championship hopes.

In the 2WD section, Paddy McToal and Connor O’Loan lit up the time sheets in their Escort, taking a whopping 10 seconds off of their closest challengers on the opening 5.38 mile test, extending that lead to 25.8 seconds after the Big Dog and Ballintempo stages. Another fastest time on SS4 even as they backed off a bit after service seemed to indicate that it was one of those days where they could do no wrong and they managed to extend their gap to 28.4 seconds as they took an emphatic win.

Hugh McQuaid and Declan Casey managed to break McToal’s stranglehold on the timesheets with a fastest time on the second running of Big Dog, but their focus was on staying ahead of Shane McGirr and Denver Rafferty’s Lada. There was some close racing between the pair throughout the day and McGirr took first blood on the opener, but it was ultimately McQuaid’s day as he managed to open up a 13.9 second gap on the second loop to take second.

In the classes, Jack Harris and Aaron O’Regan took maximum points in Class 2 on a day where they largely drove around in no man’s land after their main rival Ross Ryan suffered an unfortunate double puncture following an off-road excursion early on Stage 1. Francis Kelly and Charlotte Egan were comfortable winners in Class 2A, while Jack Brennan and Dylan Harrington continued their winning streak in Class 4. Sammy Scollan and Paul Cullen were the sole finishers in Class 9 and 10 respectively which will be useful to both of their title aspirations.

Class 11F was hotly contested but it was Eugene Ward and Patrick Heaney who ran out the winners after early leader Mickey Joe Browne retired on SS3 and Brian Little had a tidy run to win Class 12. The pace was hot in Class 13, but Hugh McQuaid’s excellent drive saw him run out the comfortable winner, although the likes of Shane McCanney and Liam McQuaid also shone on the day. Paddy McToal’s overall 2WD victory also means he took the maximum score in Class 14 and looks poised to challenge Mickey Conlon for the class honours on the remaining rounds. In the remaining 4WD classes, Patsy Keenan and Robert McKelvey had a real nip and tuck battle in Class 15, with Keenan coming out on top by 4 seconds to extend his points lead. Dominic Leonard was the stand-out performer in Class 20 and has put himself in good stead for the remainder of the year.