He came home from the Carlow Rally last Sunday night still leading the Irish national championship but with a Toyota Corolla bent at both ends.

And, of course, it needs to be back in pristine condition for Saturday's KBB Doors Tour of the Sperrins, fourth round of the Northern Ireland championship - a series is which Cookstown man Allen is also the leader.

"I hit the front and the back of it in Carlow - but no better man to fix it" laughed Allen who runs his own car body shop.

He was second on his local Sperrins event 12 months ago - one of a string of runners-up placings as he ended the season in second place behind champion for the third year in a row Kevin Lynch.

But with Lynch now up a level in the international Tarmac championship Allen has seized the opportunity to stake his claim for the title with back-to-back wins on the past two rounds.

And he will be hopeful of another bag of maximum points on Saturday even if he can't be confident of the victory itself.

The Sperrins entry is headed by last year's winner Charlie Donnelly, the reigning Irish national champion. He has been sitting out the season because of a long-term illness but makes a return appearance on the round of the NI series run by his local Magherafelt Club.

Donnelly won in a Skoda Fabia in 2006 but wheels out his championship-winning Toyota Corolla - the same car in which brother Eugene won the Tarmac title - for only his second rally of the year and his first since the Donnelly team was taken over by Reid Motorsport.

And team boss Liam Reid will be sitting on for what is certain to be a spectacular ride.

It won't matter too much to Allen if Donnelly wins again as he is not registered for the NI series but there is a lot of local rivalry at stake.

Their cars are run out of the same McGeehan Motorsport stable and when his own Toyota suffered engine trouble on the eve of the Sperrins last year he was able to borrow a Donnelly Corolla - and then joke it was only right to let Charlie win!

No excuses this time, although points will be Allen's priority as he continues his battle with Stephen Moore and Raymond Johnston for the NI title.

Moore, fresh from winning the Moonraker Rally in Cork at the weekend and increasing his lead in the Irish forestry championship, is seeded at four in his Ford Focus with Johnston at five in his Subaru.

Sean Devine, who led the Sperrins event last year before retiring his Subaru as a result of accident damage, is at No.2 and former Group N champion Richard Hogg returns to the series to drive a powerful WRC Skoda Octavia.

Richard Cathcart, who currently heads the Group N category with Ian Cochrane, heads the production entry at No.9 in his Subaru but right behind him is Neil McCance who scored his best result to date with eighth overall and the Group N win on last weekend's Manx National.

The rally starts from Walsh's Hotel, Maghera, on Saturday morning (10am) and the 120 starters from the massive 220 who applied will tackle six tarmac stages in the Sperrin Mountains and Upperlands area. The first car is due back in Maghera at 4.45pm.

Top of the entry list: 1 Charlie Donnelly and Liam Reid (Toyota Corolla); 2 Glenn Allen and Damien Connolly (Toyota Corolla); 3 Sean Devine and Damien Duffy (Subaru Impreza); 4 Stephen Moore and Tony McHugh (Ford Focus); 5 Raymond Johnston and Richard Bell (Subaru Impreza); 6 Richard Hogg and Mark Hanna (Skoda Octavia); 7 Seamus Heron and TBA (Ford Focus); 8 George Robinson and Tommy Speers (Ford Escort); 9 Richard Cathcart and Killian Duffy (Subaru Impreza N); 10 Neil McCance and Sean Ferris (Mitsubishi Lancer N).