It was to be the following stage 13, Craig Hill that would prove decisive in the team's result. We had a comfortable class lead after Seamus (Leonard) went off on Rousky, shrugged Jennings, So I couldn't believe it when we came into a square left and we slid into a ditch. It was such a simple corner. Visibly upset he continued, It was going perfectly and I just hand-braked it in, we slid on and the car slipped into a ditch on its side. By the time we'd got out we'd lost four minutes and the class lead.
The team checked the car at service before the Sunday overnight halt and pronounced it completely undamaged. Unfortunately the 2.5 minute lead over nearest rival Roy White had gone and the group behind were all tightly packed, meaning Jennings dropped to sixth in class with just the four Monday stages remaining.
A valiant effort and two more stage wins were only sufficient to climb to tenth overall and fifth in class in the final thirty miles of competition on Monday, but Jennings was positive.
I was really upset yesterday but now I've had chance to think about it, I'm OK, he concluded. We set eleven fastest Group N times from the seventeen stages and were never slower than third. On top of that we had a couple of fourth quickest overall times, so the car's definitely got the pace. What's more disappointing is that I'm losing Rory from this event, so he won't be able to defend his title. But I think I've found a worthy replacement, James O'Brien will be re-joining the team for the Rally of the Lakes and he's won the event before.
The team now has only ten days to prepare for the third round of the championship which starts on the Friday April 28 in Killarney with stages on Saturday and Sunday of the Bank Holiday weekend.
