RALLY NEWS NO.3 Charterhall - Service - Friday 9.30pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Abbey St Bathans 2

1st (1) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 29.56.7
2nd (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 29.57.1
3rd (6) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 30.39.4
4th (15) Dougi Hall/Steve Egglestone (Focus WRC) 30.45.3
5th (5) David Higgins/Daniel Barritt (Accent WRC) 30.46.5
6th (2) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Impreza WRC) 31.16.0
7th (3) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 31.20.3
8th (7) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Lancer WRC) 31.21.5
9th (27) Paul Wedgbury/Neil Dashfield (Lancer N) 31.39.4
10th (30) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Ignis)
31.52.9
Austin MacHale was fastest through the short Langton spectator stage beside Duns, but as the top cars moved out into the country again it was Andrew Nesbitt who set fastest time on stage 4. Most of the top drivers were on either a cut slick or an intermediate tyre, and of course sods law being what it is the skies cleared, the sun blinked through, and the roads dried in a flash. Most of the drivers had 2 spare wheels with a dry weather tyre just in case, and most have changed before stage 5, Eyemouth.

Eugene Donnelly was 7s slower than Nesbitt through that 4th stage. Derek McGarrity was 3rd fastest but a full 16s behind Donnelly, which gives a fair indication of how hard the two at the front are going. Steve Perez in the Vodka Kick Focus WRC lost some time on that 4th stage and dropped out of the leaderboard to 19th place.

Paul Wedgbury and Roy White are swapping fastest group N times, with Wedgbury having his nose in front courtesy of a stunning stage 1 time. As can be seen above Wedgbury is now 9th overall, Roy White 13th, Seb Ling 14th, Rory Galligan 16th, just ahead of Martin Sansom in 17th. Galligan is settling in to a new car, and for the moment his main aim is to stay ahead of Sansom in the race for Evo Challenge points. Dorian Rees led the Prodrive Subaru Cup points before the start of this rally, but he has had a fairly disastrous time in stage 4 to drop down the order. Dorian's car was rebuilt in quite a hurry this week following an accident. He said after stage 2 this evening that he was having problems with the centre differential. Lorna Smith is edging ahead of Swedish girl Jenni-Lee Hermansson, both in 22 Motorsport prepared Imprezas. Jenni-Lee in at the deep end a little here on this Jim Clark territory. Top Irish Group N exponent Dessie Keenan lost time on stage 2 when he slid off the road briefly. Dermot Hanafin in the FitzSamuel Insurance Group N Impreza had a huge moment in stage 1 when he spun on a 5th gear corner and went down the road backwards at over 100 mph between telegraph poles.

Jon Ingram spun his Impreza on stage 1 and blocked the road, held up Barry Clark and several other drivers including Jonnie Wigmore. Wigmore crashed his Puma just a few yards further down the road and smashed in the driver's door, happily still going. Stuart Jones has crashed the back of his father's pride and joy Lancer, still going. Paul Alexander retired his VW Golf when the engine came to a smoky halt.

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rally

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