Posted online: May 17th, 2007

Bonjour Donegal

The arrival of the triple World Rally championship winner Sébastien Loeb and Citroen to the Shell Donegal International rally has created a massive stir of interest from across Europe.
Speaking at the launch of the Helping Hands rally charity fundraiser Damien Crawford, Chairman of the Donegal Motor club described the interest as “Being on a scale unseen before. We have had 70,000 hits already in the last few weeks on the website, with 40% of those coming from France”.
Mr Crawford also called for volunteers along the rally stages with possible land for parking to make it available, to help cope with the influx of Rally fans.
In all over 400 stewards will be needed at the event which is in its 37th year and anyone interested in being a marshal is urged to get in touch. Speaking at the launch of Danny Caddye and Hazel Russell’s charity entry into the event, Course Clerk Danny Gormley described how much the interest in the rally has grown since its beginning. Stating that they had received 224 entries to date, the battle for places is fierce. He thanked the sponsors for their continued support and noted that this year’s event will be much more challenging with new routes.
Sébastien Loeb who also holds the record for most WRC wins is expected to draw huge crowds from across the UK, Ireland and his native France, with Citroen using the event as a test run ahead of the upcoming Rally Ireland in November.