It will be down to the wire this weekend on the Isle of Man as Daniel McKenna attempts to secure the MSA British Rally Championship on his first full assault at the title. Daniel, this year’s Pirelli Star Driver has had a superb season to date, picking up 3 wins and a runner up spot out of 4 rallies. This means that Daniel heads to the deciding round with a 22-point lead over title rival Osian Pryce. When dropped scores come into play however, things become much closer…
As Daniel explains, “It’s great to be heading to the final round in the lead of the championship but the Manx is really 2 rallies in 1. With the cancellation of the final round of the championship in Dorset the Manx has been split into 2 points scoring days. The points are as usual for day 1 but there’s points and a half on offer for the second day. If Osian beats me on both days he’ll win the title by a single point but I’m not thinking about that. In a way, there’s as much pressure on him as there is on me. I had a good run on the Manx National Rally a few months ago in the Escort testing with Pirelli so the roads don’t faze me. We had a slight gearbox issue on the previous round but the Davy Greer Motorsport boys will have the car fully sorted for the rally and Arthur and I can’t wait to get started.”
Taking the title would be an historic moment for Daniel as it’s been 40 years since the first Irish driver won the British Championship. That driver was Billy Coleman, the man who has given his name to the award that has helped Daniel get to his current position. “The Billy Coleman Award gave me a great springboard which led to the Pirelli Star Drive. I’d love to repay both their investments by doing the business on the Manx but there’s a lot of miles to drive before I’ll even let myself think about that.”
The Microgaming Rally Isle of Man begins on Thursday 11th September, with the shakedown stage during the day before the event gets properly underway on Douglas promenade with a side-by-side spectator special stage on the opening night. The following day see the crews tackle 13 stages between 9am and 11pm, headlined by the double run through the popular Castletown stage in the evening. The action continues on Saturday, a further 7 stages building up to the traditional finale through the streets of Douglas to the finish at the TT Grandstand.
You can follow Daniel’s progress as the season draws to close by following him on Twitter @DMKMotorsport and Facebook at Daniel McKenna Rallying.
