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RALLY
NEWS NO.6
Hexham Service/Saturday 3.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 CHIRDONHEAD
1st (2) David Higgins/Chris Wood (Accent WRC)1.14.52.7
2nd (4) Alistair Ginley/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 1.16.47.8
3rd (6) Paul Bird/Andrew Bargery (Focus WRC) 1.18.01.2
4th (8) Steve Perez/Daniel Barritt (Focus WRC) 1.18.51.5
5th (5) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 1.19.42.2
6th (9) Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 1.19.53.7
7th (26) Sebastian Ling/James Phillips (Lancer N) 1.20.02.5
8th (12) Dorian Rees/Patrick Walsh (Impreza N) 1.21.18.2
9th (10) Neil Buckley/Neil Ewing (Lancer N) 1.21.19.0
10th (16) Alessandro Broccoli/Giovanni Senese (Fiat Punto) 1.21.49.9
With just 2 stages to go now David Higgins' lead at the front of
this Pirelli International Rally is almost 2 minutes. David still
setting the pace, his cause helped when Ginley had 2 spins in stage
8. However, even David is still having to drive the car, and
told us "I chose too soft a tyre for the conditions on those 2
stages. Halfway through stage 8 the tyres really went off, and then
the front wheels started to lock up under braking which made the
engine stall. The roads were a lot drier than I expected and there
was loose gravel on the surface". Alistair Ginley,
following his 2 spins, during the course of which the engine stalled
and would not re-start, said "I can't understand it. The tyres
seemed to be working well, it was just on tight corners where it
would hang out a bit". Paul Bird is now looking fairly
secure in 3rd place, the Monster Mob Ducati man reporting "I'm
driving at 74 per cent now really, mostly dodging the rocks, but I
thought once on a 3 left I was nearly into the ditch. So I thought
'easy tiger'!"
Steve Perez set a 3rd quickest time through that 8th stage, but the
Vodka Kick Focus is not really making any impression on Bird in
front. Steve's co driver Daniel Barritt said "We had a good run
in that stage 8, one of our best today, the car is going well, no
problems". Barry Johnson in 5th is doing his best to get
ahead of Perez but Barry admitted that he has taken a short cut with
his Subaru suspension, used some stuff from the old car, and its
just not working. Matthew Wilson set good times through stages
7 and 8 despite running wide at a few square lefts through stage 8.
Matthew reckoning he was in too high a gear, and was a bit
disappointed to lose a few seconds. The earlier trouble with the
power steering was sorted by a fantastic effort from the M-Sport
engineers, who changed the steering rack and the hydraulic pipe in
20 minutes to get the Focus to the service out control spot on time.
Sebastian Ling continues to lead group N and is 6th overall, but
admitted that he is now coming under pressure as his Lancer's 3rd
gear has gone a bit wonky, and he is having to shift from 2nd to
4th, same on the way down, which is causing difficulty under
braking. Second in gpN, Dorian Rees, points leader in the
Subaru Cup, is still having a clean run. Third in gpN Neil Buckley
is trying everything he knows, but can't really make any impression
on the cars in front. Neil saying "I'm driving my heart out,
taking all the cuts on the corners, can't go any faster. I'm
starting to reckon that the water spray to the engine isn't working
properly, which would of course knock the power off".
Interestingly, Ryan Champion, who lost a mountain of time with an
accident last night, is setting consistently gpN times today.
Not all, but most. Ryan had a massive moment in stage 8, when
first his Lancer lost the front brakes, and then the rears went as
well and try as he might, he could not slow the Mitsubishi down for
the tight Pundershaw farm chicane. The middle pedal was flat on the
floorboard when the car careered through the bales and pallets, and
nearly went off at the bridge further down. Jenni-Lee
Harmansson is now 25s ahead of Lorna Smith in their particular race.
We had a time earlier that showed Lorna Smith to have fallen back,
this proved to be incorrect.
In Super 1600 Broccoli lost a few seconds to Barry Clark on that
stage 8, overall the Italian is just 12s up in his Fiat to the ever
smiling Barry in his Puma. Finnish driver Teiskonen is 3rd in Super
1600 in his Saxo. Gareth Jones is 4th 1600, Gareth struggling a
little bit on the marbly stages, a little bit of damage to the front
of the Clio where he brushed a chicane. At last service Simon
Hughes was running late when an engine sensor went wonky, still
waiting for Simon to appear here.
In the Fiat Stilo Cup earlier leader Joan Roca has retired when he
had a puncture in stage 8, the car slid off the jack into a ditch
and then burned the clutch out trying to get back on the road.
Bonniwell now leads from Davies.
An interested spectator here at service is Richard Burns' co driver
Robert Reid and he told us "Richard is making progress slowly.
The treatment is continuing and he is in a really good frame of
mind. He appreciates all the messages of support and people
respecting his privacy".
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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