RALLY NEWS NO.12                  Regroup/Quinn's/Sunday  4.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 15 Ballymanagh
1st (13) Tapio Laukkanen/Harri Kaapro (Impreza WRC) 1.34.50.0
2nd (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 1.34.54.2
3rd (1) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.35.35.1
4th (3) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 1.36.35.0
5th (4) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.36.42.7
6th (9) Tim McNulty/Julian Nangle (Impreza WRC) 1.37.16.9
7th (23) James Foley/Lisa Roe (Lancer N) 1.39.56.4
8th (25) Dessie Keenan/Laura Keenan (Lancer N) 1.41.14.8
9th (16) Aaron MacHale/Ger McMonagle (Lancer N) 1.41.21.0
10th (12) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Celica) 1.41.27.6
11th (38) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Impreza N) 1.42.16.6
12th (17) George Cullen/Jakes Kelly (Impreza WRC) 1.42.32.5

Eugene Donnelly has been piling on the pressure this afternoon in his chase after Tapio Laukkanen and the lead of this First Choice Flooring Galway International Rally.  Unfortunately for Eugene all the top drivers beat the "bogey time" on stage 15, on stage 14 Donnelly had been 4s faster than Laukkanen, but Donnelly's efforts could well be thwarted by that "bogey time".  Just over 4s separate the two with two stages remaining, but the final stage is a re-run of stage 15.  Laukkanen is struggling ever so slightly with his Subaru, the car is jumping out of 4th gear, especially under power.  Tapio saying "We don't need that but we must push on".  Eugene Donnelly reported everything well with his car and the Maghera man seems to be in absolute top form. 

Austin MacHale in 3rd place is struggling with his new Focus WRC.  The car now has a leaking head gasket, Austin is having to keep the revs down and top the car up with water at every opportunity.  Realistically as the day wore on MacHale had little chance of catching the 2 cars in front as the gap widened, and even with Austin's head gasket problem the 2 cars behind him, McGarrity and Boland, are making no impression on the 1m gap. 

In Group N James Foley continues to lead, but has had several big dramas including hitting a bridge, and then getting caught up in traffic and has the possibility of some road penalties.  Colm Murphy was setting some spectacular times in gpN but he has slowed down somewhat as his Impreza has developed a big gearbox problem. A full scale spin at a jump over a bridge not helping his cause.  It is Dessie Keenan now who is the big talking point in gpN, the Billy Coleman Award winner piling on the pressure as the day has progressed, and he has got ahead of Aaron MacHale for 2nd in gpN. 

Donie O'Sullivan was 7th earlier but has now slipped right back following his ECU problem on stage 11.  However, although down the classification Donie is running with the top drivers, and interestingly set some quick times through 14 and 15, giving a hint of potential for future events. 

Just outside the top 12 Jack Sleator is sitting nicely in his Lancer and then it is a battle between the 2 F2 Escort drivers of Glen Wilson and Guy Woodcock, with Wilson just having the edge.  Tony Davies in his Metro 6R4 would appear now to be the fastest of the Modified cars. , Padraic Price in the Eugene Donnelly G3 Escort has really speeded up since he discovered a steering problem,  which has now been rectified.  LATEST NEWS: Tapio Laukkanen and Eugene Donnelly are through the final stage. Very unofficially Laukkanen has won the rally by 0.6 of a second.  BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON     www.rallynews.net