Rally News No.4 Service In Sunday 3.00pm

Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage Six

1^st (3) Jim Harrison/Harvey Bell (Impreza WRC) 1.00.02

2^nd (6) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Impreza WRC) 1.00.07

3^rd (7) Noel Redmond/Diarmuid Falvey (Impreza WRC) 1.00.25

4^th (2) Patrick Elliott/David Moynihan (Impreza WRC) 1.01.07

5^th (9) Sean Gallagher/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 1.01.19

6^th (8) Denis Cronin/Helen O’Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 1.01.37

7^th (5) Cathal Arthurs/Jakes Kelly (Octavia WRC) 1.02.04

8^th (1) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 1.02.31

9^th (16) James O’Sullivan/Rebecca Walsh (Lancer N) 1.02.32

10^th (17) Alan Ring/Greg Shinnors (Impreza N) 1.02.52

11^th (18) Barry Coleman/Don Montgomery (Impreza WRC) 1.03.40

12^th (21) Adrian Quinn/Alan Moran (Lancer N) 1.03.57

13^th (158) Tadgh Linehan/John Kearney (Impreza N) 1.03.58

With only two stages remaining on this Marine Hotel Fastnet Rally it is all action at the head of the field with the leading drivers setting things up for a grandstand finish. The major story after stage six was that of Noel Redmond. Redmond has been stunningly fast all morning and snatched the lead in stage five when he nipped ahead of Jim Harrison with a time ten seconds faster than the Englishman to give Redmond a two second lead. But the Bunclody businessman put his Impreza off the road in SS6 loosing almost thirty seconds in the process, the crew saying "it was a 3 left, slippy tar and bumpy, and we just went straight on", the front of the Impreza now looking very second hand. Rally leader Jim Harrison explained that his earlier clutch problem was just a "thingy" on the back of the clutch pedal restricting the movement, but Jim is more concerned now about how difficult he is finding the stages and is struggling to remember anything from his recce. Liam McCarthy is really enjoying himself in second and is poised to challenge for the lead after a fastest time in SS6 sees him close to within five seconds of rally leader Harrison.

Patrick Elliott has moved up to fourth after fixing his earlier electronic problems while Sean Gallagher drops back to fifth and has confessed that he has backed off after a few lurid moments earlier. Cathal Arthurs is still in the same situation with his brake problem and is taking a very close interest in Dunlop National Championship leader Niall Maguire’s pace, as he moves up the leaderboard.

James O’Sullivan pushed hard over those last two stages and admitted to a big moment in stage five but has now got a 20 second lead over Alan Ring. The Munster Joinery man just shrugged his shoulders here at service when he looked at O’Sullivan’s times, admitting that his Impreza is perfect but that the 023 Tiles man has just got too far ahead. Adrian Quinn still holds third in GpN but he and Tadgh Linehan are having a real ding dong battle and only one second separates them. Wesley Patterson has got ahead in 2wd race but again by only a very small margin from Thomas O’Rourke, these two tied on time after stage five while Enda Keenan has dropped back as he really struggles to find grip in his Escort. More News Later Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd