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RALLY NEWS
NO.6 Ae...Saturday 5pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5 - Ae 2
1st (3) Neil Wearden/Trevor Agnew (Vauxhall) 54.30.3
2nd (17) Neil Simpson/Mike Gibson (Lancer N) 55.28.3
3rd (2) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Vauxhall) 55.30.4
4th (11) Marko Ipatti/Teppo Leino (Lancer N) 55.39.5
5th (16) Mike Brown/Aled Davies (Lancer N) 56.07.7
6th (4) Jarmo Kytolehto/Arto Kapanen (Coupe F2)56.35.8
7th (19) Gavin Cox/Tim Hobbs (Lancer N) 56.53.2
8th (1) Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom (VW Golf)56.55.4
9th (9) Jani Pirtinen/Tomi Tuominen (VW Golf) 57.02.9
10th (20) Dave Wood/Les Waterfall (Impreza N) 57.04.5
Neil Wearden set a scorching pace through the long Ae stage to
firmly reinforce his position at the head of this Kumho Scottish
Rally. His team mate Mark Higgins had some brake problems
and dropped 19s to his fellow Astra driver. There is also
a suggestion of some gearbox difficulty in Mark's car.
However, he is a lot better off than Tapio Laukkanen who dropped
almost 2 mins. through that 18.79 mile stage. Tapio's Volkswagen
clattered into view with a shattered rear rim tyreless and stationary.
The Finnish driver was very down in the dumps having driven 12
miles on 3 tyres and half a rim! Neil Wearden said "It's
time luck was with us".
Another big talking point was the performance of Neil Simpson
in the Pirelli shod Lancer. Neil and co-driver Mike Gibson
were 13s faster than Marko Ipatti to move up the leaderboard
into 2nd place. Neil said "No problems although the
brake pedal got a bit long as the heat built up".
Other stories include - Mike Brown being on the limiter in 5th
gear when he caught sight of the bumper that he had lost this
morning, his concentration momentarily wavered and his Lancer
careered down a ditch for quite a long way. Justin Dale
was the fastest of the 1600 Super Cup runners, he was just 1s
up on his Peugeot team mate David Higgins with Niall McShea another
2 in arrears and Mats Andersson a further 1s back - very close
stuff indeed. McShea said "We still have no 2nd gear,
but sure it's a bit of craic" Dale commented "We're
pushing hard". David Higgins told us "Our tyres
were knackered at the end, otherwise OK". Mats Andersson's
co driver Claire Mole said "A bit of a tank slapper but
OK".
Marko Ipatti observed at stage finish "We went quite alright
but Simpson was faster. The grip in the stage was amazing".
Jarmo Kytolehto finished the stage with a soft wheel but said
"Didn't feel it in the stage, no problem". His team
mate Andrew Pinker had a flat tyre for 10 miles, losing well
over a minute and any chance of a top 10 place for the moment.
Jani Pirtinen still has limited slip trouble - the team changed
the oil and in the beginning of the long stage the diff worked
a little better, but towards the end got bad. In theFord
Puma Championship Briant is extending his lead over Maugher with
Kelly still 3rd, Chadwick 4th. On the World C/ship Acropolis
Colin McRae is 31s ahead of Sainz, Burns 3rd,Arai 4th, Kankkunen
5th, Schwarz 6th & Delecour 7th after some overheating probs.
Gronholm out with engine failure. McRae small oil leak from steering
system. Gardemeister stopped SS9 broken steering. BRIAN &
LIZ PATTERSON |
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