Clare Stages Rally competitor Damian Fleming (37) died in car that ‘broke down with mechanical failure’

Mr Fleming, from Kilcummin, Co Kerry, died following a two-car collision during the fourth stage of the event at about 1.30pm yesterday.

It comes as two competitors were killed at the Sligo Stages Rally earlier this summer.

Daire Maguire (46) and Gene McDonald (35) died in July in a single vehicle collision during the sixth stage of the rally.

Speaking to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Art McCarrick of Motorsport Ireland, said: “Anyone who competes in motorsport does so because they love the sport and I have no doubt that the competitor Damian Fleming had started off yesterday full of excitement and looking forward to competing in the sport that he loved and it’s just tragic what unfolded yesterday.”

Mr Fleming had competed in “well over 150 events since 2006” and was well known in the community, he said.

“Obviously, it’s under investigation as to what exactly happened. Cars coming into contact in a rally where cars set off at timed intervals would be quite a rare occurence.

“What would appear to have happened is the car in which Mr Fleming was travelling broke down with a mechanical failure.”

Mr McCarrick said the following “one or two cars” passed without problem .

“It appears another car lost control, collided with the stationary car and in that collision, tragically, Damian was fatally injured.

“We know what the outcome was but we just need to look into every possible thing that happened in the run up to it and that will form the basis of our investigation and An Garda Síochána’s as well.”

“This event went through the same safety checks that every closed road rally would do.”

Mr McCarrick said whether the incident in Clare “and the causes of it were to do with the road itself, the cars involved, we don’t know until we look into that”.

He said the scene of the incident ran as Stage 1 that morning “without any issue”.

“I don’t think it requires a knee jerk reaction we just need to uncover every stone to look into what happened here. I don’t think a knee jerk reactions are helpful at a time like this.

“It’s a time to look into finding out why and see what, if anything, we can learn and sometimes, freak accidents can occur.

“We don’t yet know if we can put it into that category yet but we’re doing everything we can to find out what happened.”