Donegal Rally: Josh Moffett undaunted with number 1 on the door

When the sums were totted last year, Josh Moffett had almost 47 seconds to spare as he came off Atlantic Drive, special stage 20 at the Donegal International Rally.

The Monaghan man had, to be precise 46.7 seconds to spare on nearest challenger and older brother Sam.

Josh Moffett, with Andy Hayes again riding shotgun on the notes, is back in Donegal to defend the crown, the Hyundai i20 R5 with number 1 on its doors this year.

“I have ran number one on quite a few rallies at this stage, but this is the first time in Donegal,” the 31-year-old Monaghan man said.

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“I'm used to being one on the road so it should be okay.”

Sam Moffett is also going in a Hyundai and with the likes of Callum Devine, Meirion Evans, Matt Edwards, Robert Barrable and Garry Jennings in the mix, Donegal will provide its usual mix of thrills and spills.

There are over 280km across 20 special stages of Donegal's famed tarmac.

Josh Moffett is the reigning Irish Tarmac champion and has won at Cavan, the Circuit of Kerry and West Cork this year with second-place finishes at the Galway International and the Circuit of Ireland.

He said: “We won here last year and it's going to be tough going to do that again. We'll certainly give it our all. It's a long weekend and three days of tough rallying. The competition is fairly high here again.”

Cahal Curley, John Lyons, Billy Coleman, Bertie Fisher, Andrew Nesbitt, Eugene Donnelly, Gareth MacHale and the late Manus Kelly are the only ones to have retained the Donegal crown.

Moffett has has his share of glory in the cockpit, but the magic was in the air last year as he rolled off the Atlantic Drive stage, just outside Downings.

He said: “It's still hard to put it into words. I thought it would feel like any other rally, but it was a pretty special feeling. It is definitely one that we'll remember.

“It's going to be a great weekend. As soon as you come into Letterkenny here you can feel it. We're 100 per cent looking forward to it”