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RALLY
NEWS NO.3
Hexham/Friday 15 after Midnight…!
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3
1st (2) David Higgins/Chris Wood (Accent WRC) 28.33.3
2nd (1) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Impreza WRC) 28.59.3
3rd (4) Alistair Ginley/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 29.17.2
4th (6) Paul Bird/Andrew Bargery (Focus WRC) 29.20.8
5th (9) Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 29.51.4
6th (8) Steve Perez/Daniel Barritt (Focus WRC) 30.16.7
7th (26) Sebastian Ling/James Phillips (Lancer N) 30.43.0
8th (5) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 31.24.9
9th (16) Alessandro Broccoli/Giovanni Senese (Fiat Punto) 31.27.8
10th (31) Barry Clark/Neil Shanks (Puma) 31.37.6
David Higgins was fastest on all three stages tonight of this
Pirelli International Rally. Jonny Milner was 2nd fastest on
the first, Ginley was 2nd fastest on the 2nd and Milner was 2nd
fastest on the third. Higgins commented here at Hexham on the
way into parc ferme. "We had a good run, on the fast stuff the
car feels OK, but I'm not confident on the slower corners. We will
change the set up slightly in the morning". Milner
commented "We are increasing speed with confidence in the new
car. We ran wide on a couple of corners and maybe lost a few
seconds. Perhaps we should have chosen a slightly different Pirelli
tyre, a KM, to give better turn in, but overall I'm happy enough.
The car is awesome". Alistair Ginley had a good evening,
although he did lose a little bit of time with a faulty intercom,
and he reckons as well that the Subaru needs the roll bars stiffened
up in the morning. Paul Bird in 4th said "No
dramas. I lost a little bit of time in Barry Johnson's dust, the
work on the rear differential has transformed the car, but tonight
I've really been running at seven tenths". As for Barry
Johnson, he was honest enough to admit that he just lost his
confidence in the dark and the patchy fog, everything is fine with
the car and he is looking forward to the Saturday leg.
17 year old Matthew Wilson continues to do a fantastic job in one of
his father Malcolm's Focus WRCs, and said "I just wanted to get
through the night stages with no trouble, the pace notes are coming
together". On the side, he was overheard saying to
Malcolm - "I can go faster Dad!" Steve Perez in the Vodka
Kick backed Focus WRC was hampered slightly through stages 1 and 2
by catching up with the struggling John Lloyd. As far as we can
gather John's Subaru was giving front differential trouble and he
has pulled out, allowing Perez a clear run at stage 3, and he was a
lot happier.
In Super 1600 Alessandro Broccoli was looking very confident over
the last couple of stages, although Barry Clark is only 10s behind.
Broccoli's Fiat Punto team mate Leon Pesticcio stopped on the way to
stage 1 with some mechanical problem, reported to be a broken oil
pipe. Gareth Jones started off with a quickest category run
through the first stage, but in stage 2 his Clio suffered a spin on
only the 3rd corner, the car stalled and also there was a puncture.
However, Gareth is far from out of it and is just 40s behind
Broccoli. Simon Hughes had a good run this evening, and he is lying
21st overall at the last count.
In Group N Neil Buckley lost a few seconds with a stage 2 spin.
As can be seen above Sebastian Ling is leading. Dorian Rees is 2nd
gpN and 11th overall. Buckley is just 3s behind. Jenni-Lee
Hermansson had a good run tonight in her gpN Impreza, as did Lorna
Smith, Jenni-Lee was 15th after stage 2, Lorna 18th. Both cars run
by 22 Motorsport.
We mentioned earlier about Guy Wilks having a problem when he
clouted a bank in stage 1, his Suzuki did not emerge from stage 2
Just outside the leaderboard - Teiskonen is 13th in his Saxo. Rob
Swann 14th in his Lancer. In the Fiat Stilo Cup Catalan driver
Joan Roca leads by just over 17s from Bonniwell with Davies 3rd,
Metcalfe 4th, Woffinden 5th and Todd 6th. More news in the
morning. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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