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RALLY NEWS
NO.9 Newton Stewart..Sunday 10 am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 BLACK LOCH
1st (3) Neil Wearden/Trevor Agnew (Vauxhall) 1.16.09.0
2nd (17) Neil Simpson/Mike Gibson (Lancer N) 1.17.21.8
3rd (11) Marko Ipatti/Teppo Leino (Lancer N) 1.17.25.7
4th (1) Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom (VW Golf) 1.18.24.7
5th (4) Jarmo Kytolehto/Arto Kapanen (Coupe F2) 1.18.39.5
6th (2) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Vauxhall) 1.19.05.2
7th (19) Gavin Cox/Tim Hobbs (Lancer N) 1.19.21.5
8th (9) Jani Pirttinen/Tomi Tuominen (VW Golf) 1.19.39.8
9th (20) Dave Wood/Les Waterfall (Impreza N) 1.19.57.8
10th (23) Guy Anderson/Dave Taylor (Lancer N) 1.20.13.3
Tapio Laukkanen was fastest through stage 18 Black Loch, to move
from an overnight 7th up to 4th place, while Mark Higgins dropped
from 3rd to 6th when his Astra engine spluttered to a halt in
the stage costing well over a minute. Mark's time was 8.37.6
whereas Laukkanen in the VW recorded 6.43.9. Neil Wearden 6.49.5.
Neil who has now become a dot com - wearden.com - reported no
big dramas in the stage. Second overall Neil Simpson feels
his engine is slightly down on power and the turbo boost isn't
looking so healthy.
Marko Ipatti has softened his Lancer's suspension so the car
is not so sideways. The Finn's Lancer had a new engine
fitted for the rally, but with the old turbo, now a new unit
has been fitted and he's a lot happier, and the flashing oil
light on the first of today's stages doesn't seem to be a problem.
Jarmo Kytolehto said here at service about Black Loch - "It
was a fast stage, we kept the driving clean but we need something
more under the bonnet". His team mate Andrew Pinker
had 2 punctures on the first stage this morning and another one
on Black Loch. Finnish driver Jani Pirttinen did not after
all try to repair his Golfs differential last night, the VW engineers
reckoned it was too long a job, so now the car is good on the
short stages, but the diff starts to play up on the longer ones.
In the 1600 Super race, David Higgins gave best to his Peugeot
team mate Justin Dale on Black Loch. David clipped a bridge while
trying to avoid some rocks and knocked the steering geometry
out. Dale discovered that his 106 Super GTi had a bent
strut on the first stage this morning, probably a legacy of the
big jump in Windy Hill, and the Peugeot mechanics did well to
change the strut at management service between stages 7 and 8
this morning. Marko Ramanen continues to set good times, a badly
smashed door evidence of a close encounter with a Black Loch
log pile. Mats Andersson is losing ground in the race for the
1600 honours, Mats reckoning his Proton's engine is getting tired.
The order just outside the top 10 now reads - David Higgins,
Nik Elsmore, Justin Dale, Marko Ramanen, then Mats Andersson,
Mike Brown, slipped from 4th after his 3min puncture in Shaw
Hill, Jock Armstrong, Niall McShea who was another to get a puncture
in Black Loch. On the Acropolis after 1 stage this morning, Sainz
closed the gap slightly on leader McRae with Burns well settled
in 3rd. Natalie Barratt is having a good run this morning, she
lost 1.50s yesterday getting her Lancer's rear beam repaired
and scored top marks for the highest flier over the big jump
in Windy Hill!! More later.BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON |
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