Rumours suggested that Eamonn Boland, Tim McNulty and Kevin Lynch would all be skipping next weekend's Jim Clark Memorial Rally in Scotland following less than successful appearances on the Rally of the Lakes a fortnight ago.

Donnelly, the reigning champion, wasn't happy.

"I've heard that they're not going and that would be disappointing," he said.

True, Donnelly likes a good battle but there was more to it than that. He doesn't want them to beat him, of course, but he needs them to be lining up in Kelso next Friday.

His hopes of becoming Tarmac champion for a record fourth time could depend on it.

The Maghera driver is currently second in the championship rankings, 14 points behind leader Mark Higgins, but the Clark Rally is the first of three in which the Irish and British series come together.

Manxman Higgins is trying to become the first driver to win both in the same year but for the defence of the British title he has won three times, he must switch from the WRC Subaru S11 in which he has taken maximum Tarmac points so far to a less powerful production N12 Impreza to qualify for BRC points.

It means that winning the Clark Rally outright is improbable if not impossible. Donnelly and the other Irish contenders in their WRC supercars should carry just too much speed for him on the fast roads around the Scottish borders.

So Donnelly, with his Reid Motorsport Subaru S12, will be favourite to win but he would hope for more than that. Ideally, he wants the Irish contingent to put distance, and as many places as possible, between him and Higgins.

"Mark is quite capable of bringing a production car home in third or fourth place on a rally like the Jim Clark," said Donnelly. "And even if I win, which is by no means certain, the points difference may not be all that great.

"The more people I can get between Mark and myself the better for my chances of keeping the Tarmac championship."

Donnelly admits he has been on the back foot since the first round of the series, the Galway International in February. Yet that event might have been his most spectacular success to date.

He led two-time World champion Marcus Gronholm until the penultimate stage only to crash out.

"I might have made a lot of headlines but the bottom line is I didn't get any points," he reflected afterwards. "And I've been playing catch-up ever since. I need to make significant in-roads into Mark's lead on the Clark Rally."

That's why he will be looking for a little help from his traditional rivals next weekend. And the good news for him is they all plan to be there.