RALLY NEWS NO.5                   Service - Friday 5.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 GORTREE
1st (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 32.27
2nd (1) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 32.45
3rd (4) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 33.13
4th (11) Kevin Lynch/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 33.23
5th (2) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 33.48
6th (14) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 34.04
7th (9) Paul Harris/John McCafferty (Impreza WRC) 34.08
8th (39) Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 34.15
9th (21) Brendan Kelly/Derek Brannigan (Corolla WRC) 34.28
10th (38) George Cullen/Llinos Jones-Edwards (Impreza WRC) 34.46

On stage 5 Grainian Eugene Donnelly was a couple of seconds faster than Andrew Nesbitt, and then on stage 6 the two tied, with Derek McGarrity a further 3s back. Tim McNulty was 5 further back.  Austin MacHale and Kevin Lynch another couple of seconds in arrears.  That sort of sets the scene for the Saturday leg of this Shell Donegal International Rally, Donnelly and Nesbitt nosing in front, 4 or 5 drivers ready to pounce if either of the first 2 make a mistake.  Donnelly commented when he steered his Envirocare backed Corolla into service. "We went well, but I lost a few seconds at the start of stage 5 when the car stalled. Didn't lose too much time. After a few stage the clutch in this car seems to bed in a bit and gets a bit hard to operate.  Looking forward to tomorrow".  Andrew Nesbitt said. "We upped the pace although through the last couple of stages the roads were bone dry, and I was on an intermediate Pirelli.  Still, I'm exactly where I wanted to be, second on the road suits me. The car is set up a bit soft, which would have been fine if it had stayed wet, but for the dry roads we will stiffen it up".  Derek McGarrity said. "Going alright, but a bit cheesed off with the spin in stage 4, and I feel we've been robbed of 11s because of that stage 2 time".  Co driver Dermot O'Gorman said he is definitely going to appeal the time. 

Paul Harris dropped 1 place on the leaderboard when he stalled his Impreza WRC at the start of stage 5.  Paul said "The engine just wouldn't re-start and I had to free wheel it down the hill to get going".  Kevin Lynch had a bit of an overshoot in stage 6 which cost a couple of seconds, but overall the Dungiven man is driving really hard, really well, and is doing a good job to hold 4th place overall.  Brendan Kelly has had a steady run through the day despite a slight overshoot in stage 6, but he has done a good job to sit in the top 10 from the start.  Maurice Gass is lying just outside the leaderboard, unofficially in 11th place. Maurice joking "Its easier to come from behind"…(we did ask him to re-phrase that!).  George Cullen had a slight overshoot in stage 6, again George is right in the leaderboard hunt.  Matthew Wilson seemed to slip a few seconds through stages 5 and 6, although he did say earlier that he found the Granian stage a bit tricky.  No times as yet for Eamonn Boland who was running very late, his Lancer WRC in engine troubles.

In Group N Seamus Leonard and Aaron MacHale are tying on a time of 35.35. Cahal Rogers isn't a mile away on 35.52, but we are still waiting for times for Seamus Heron who took the gpN lead after stage 3. Colm Murphy has set some gpN times but lost time with a spin.  In the Modified section of the rally after stage 4 Phil Collins was 10s up on John Dalton. Conor Curley had got ahead of his father Cahal by just 1s. PJ McDermott who sponsored a couple of stages today and supports the RallyNews, was 14th in the Modifieds.  The reason for George Tracey's retirement in the "babe magnet" the Peugeot 206 WRC, was a problem with the front transfer box.  Willie John Dolan, with John Desborough on the pace notes, has retired his gpN Impreza with a mechanical problem.    More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON    www.rallynews.net