Quality line-up for Easter rally

A quality array of Tarmac championship contenders will line up for this weekend's UAC Easter International.

Last year's winner Eugene Donnelly, the reigning Tarmac champion, heads the entry list in his S12 Subaru along with Galway Rally winner Mark Higgins.

Eamonn Boland, Kris Meeke, Tim McNulty and three-time Northern Ireland champion Kevin Lynch will be next away.

Peadar Hurson, Gareth Jones and Andreas Mikkelsen follow but Derek McGarrity is still on the sidelines through injury.

The Glengormley driver and three-time Circuit of Ireland winner had targeted the Easter event for his comeback after a horrific crash on Rally Isle of Man last August.

Unfortunately the former Tarmac champion was back in hospital recently for a further operation in his injured left arm and will be sidelined for at least another few months.

Stephen Murphy, Patrick Elliott, Stuart Jones, Colm Murphy, Seamus Leonard, Roy White and James Cullen are all in the field.

Junior World championship star Meeke will be driving an S11 Subaru for the first time and 17-year-old Norwegian Mikkelsen drives an M-Sport Ford Focus.

The rally starts at the Guild Hall in Londonderry at 6.30pm on Friday with the winner due back at the same venue on Sunday at 5.40pm.