RALLY NEWS NO.11
Gleneagle Hotel/Finish/Sunday 6.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 16 (FINAL
STAGE)
1st (1) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 2.19.46
2ND (3) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 2.20.36
3rd (2) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC)
2.21.45
4th (6) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 2.22.09
5th (4) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 2.23.21
6th (7) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 2.23.34
7th (8) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 2.28.44
8th (28) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Impreza N) 2.31.32
9th (25) Alan Ring/Paul Nagle (Impreza N) 2.32.27
10th (45) Kevin Kelleher/Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 2.32.50
This was a sweet victory indeed for Andrew Nesbitt and co driver James
O’Brien in their Pirelli shod Subaru. To win here in Killarney is always
special. Andrew and James last won here in 2002 and today’s victory makes it
Andrew’s 15th International rally win. He commented here at the
Gleneagle Hotel finish ramp. “I’m very happy with the result, we had a great
time on the rally, this is a super place, super roads and in all fairness it
was a fast rally, the top 10 were all going hard. Its nice to see some new
chargers, some new faces coming in to the top end.” Andrew went on to say
that he is not completely committed to the Pirelli Tarmac championship but he
will certainly be on the Shell Donegal International in June. Today’s win
puts Andrew joint 2nd in the championship with Eugene Donnelly,
both on 27 points. Derek McGarrity has 35. Austin MacHale 26 and Eamonn
Boland 25.
When Eugene Donnelly and his co driver Paul Kiely
came into the finish Eugene said. “I’m a wee bit disappointed to finish 2nd,
but I can’t complain, Andrew drove a great race. This was a new car for us
and in truth, although I’m disappointed, I’m also delighted to be here and to
be back in the race for the championship”. Derek McGarrity said. “If you had
said to me yesterday when I was having so many problems with the car and it
was down on power that I was going to finish 3rd I would have been
quite glad to accept it. We changed the ECUs and the car went a little
better, but I was pushing like mad on the dry roads towards the end, carrying
as much speed as I could through the corners, kept it going, kept the momentum
up, and we set some quickest times. Very pleased to get best time on Molls Gap
and the Bertie Fisher Award. This is a great car, great brakes and handling.
If we could just get the power end of things sorted it would be brilliant”.
Austin MacHale finished 5th, Austin saying. “We had a steady run,
Tim McNulty was getting a bit close today so we opened up a gap. As usual a
great rally”. Tim McNulty set fastest time with his Pierse backed Impreza
over the last stage, which will give Tim some encouragement after a difficult
rally at times.
Denis Cronin finished 7th despite a
puncture towards the end which cost 2 minutes and did a fair bit of body work
damage. Denis drove on the flat wheel for quite a bit rather than stop and
change it in the stage. For Colm Murphy and co driver Ger Loughrey 8th
overall and a fine Group N win was a great result in their Group N Impreza.
Colm saying “It was a hard fought result for us. The rally went well but we
had difficulty picking the right tyres at times. You know I’ve been coming to
this rally for 20 years, In the early days it was with my brother Tony who was
competing”. Alan Ring & Paul Nagle take 9th overall and 2nd
Group N as well as best placed Kerry crew in their Munster Joinery Impreza.
Kevin & Martin Kelleher round off the top 10 and take 3rd group N.
Tony Davies recovered from a slow start to the event to finish 11th
in his Impreza WRC. James O’Sullivan finished 12th and 4th
gpN in his 023 Tiles Lancer. In the Group N section of the Pirelli
championship Colm Murphy moves back into the lead with 30 points. Garry
Jennings 2nd on 27. Alan Nesbitt 3rd on 20 and Aaron
MacHale comes up to 4th with 19 points. Aaron finished 13th
overall today, just ahead of Roy White.
In the National section of the rally Phil Collins had a brilliant
win. Phil had local man Diarmuid Falvey co driving in his Ford Escort ahead
of Monaghan men Dessie Keenan & Enda Sherry in their Escort. Kieran
O’Neill/Andrew O’Donoghue were 3rd in Kieran’s Opel Kadett.
One of the spectators on the rally remarked yesterday “The cream will
always come to the top”. He was talking about Colin McRae flinging his Escort
through one of the bends in his usual sideways manner. We were lucky enough to
have not just former World Rally Champion Colin McRae here this weekend, but
some of the best drivers and cars as well. It was another fabulous rally
organised by the Killarney & District MC. Well done to all and our thanks to
all who helped and supported our RallyNews service. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.
We have mentioned the Sardinia Rally several
times over the weekend, last bit of news from there is that Kris Meeke &
Chris Patterson now lead the Junior World Rally Championship in their Citroen
C2. Meeke 16 points. Sordo and Wilks equal 2nd on 15 points.
