RALLY NEWS NO.6 Letterkenny - Friday….late
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) 32.47
3rd (4) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 33.11
4th (11) Kevin Lynch/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 33.23
5th (2) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 33.47

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
11th (26) Maurice Gass/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 35.07
12th (48) Seamus Heron/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 35.23
There were no major changes to the end of Day 1 results with Eugene Donnelly now leading from Andrew Nesbitt by 20s. Derek McGarrity was querying his stage 2 time - it has been reduced by 1 second which leaves Derek 24s behind Andrew Nesbitt, and just 12s in front of the hard-charging Kevin Lynch. When we talked to Eugene Donnelly over a relaxing glass of apple juice at the Mt. Errigal Hotel following the Friday finish he remarked. "We were going hard, but there was a bit left and we did have a few delays like a half spin and a bit of a stall. I'm looking forward to the Saturday run, but of course anything can happen".

Just outside the above leaderboard Aaron MacHale is 13th, Seamus Leonard 14th and 3rd GpN, Colm Murphy 15th and 4th gpN, Cahal Rogers, despite being laden with flu, 16th and 5th GpN. When we quizzed Seamus Heron about his Group N speed today, revitalised since we last saw him on the Circuit of Kerry, he told us. "It is nice to be on home ground, but I don't know the stages particularly well. I think the fact that I got a left hand drive road car a few weeks ago, and I'm driving it every day, has made a difference. Plus a good Ulster fry this morning!" Sean Devine is 17th in his Impreza WRC, Sean having lost a bit of time early on when he forgot to switch on cooling fans and the car went into safe mode. A very frustrated Dessie Keenan is 18th and 6th Group N. Dessie saying his Lancer has lost all its "go". Gavin Harris, with Estate Agent Shaun Lafferty in the hot seat, is 19th, and 7th Group N. Interestingly, there is less than a minute between those top 7 GpN runners. Ivan Stewart is 20th. Tony Davies 21st in his new Subaru. Shaun Gallagher 22nd and leading class 6, Shaun describes the handling of his Saxo as a "pure nightmare"…skipping and jumping about.

Confirmation of a few retirements include - Eamonn Boland's Lancer WRC stopped when the clutch exploded having lost time earlier when a virus in the differential ECU computer caused all sorts of problems. Martin Howley went out when his Lancer suffered a broken shaft at the start of stage 1. The reason for James Cullen/Reba Graham's retirement was a steering knuckle in their Porsche melted.

Other class leaders in the main International include: Paddy Walker leading cl.1 from Pat McDaid, both in Swifts. John Hegarty leads cl.2 from John Gallagher, both in Civics. Keith McQuillan leads cl.3 from Tony Kelly's Service Manager, Christopher Boyce, again both in Civics. Andrew Hegary leads cl.5 in his Ford Puma from John McElhinney's Swift. Shaun Gallagher leads cl.6 from Aidan Caddye in his Civic. Class 7 is led by Guy Woodcock from Pat Doherty, both in Escort Maxis.

Following Phil Collins' retirement with a blown engine in his Escort, John Dalton leads the Modified part of the rally in his Darrian from Damien Gallagher (Escort). Robbie Peoples is 3rd, Paul Gallagher 4th (Corolla), Calum Duffy from the Isle of Mull 5th in his Escort and Ronan Curley 6th in yet another Escort. Ronan's brother Conor is 20th, Curley Senior (very senior!) is 34th having crumpled the side of his Escort up a bank today.

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net