Rallynews Live from the Pirelli Rally 2005

RALLY NEWS NO.4 Service/Carlisle/Friday…very late..:-)

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 7 Chirdonhead

1^st (2) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Focus WRC) 44.13.5

2^nd (4) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 44.18.2

3^rd (1) David Higgins/Daniel Barritt (Lancer N) 44.41.2

4^th (5) Paul Bird/Ian Windress (Focus WRC) 44.59.2 ***

5^th (14) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Corolla WRC) 45.03.4

6^th (9) Sebastian Ling/Ian Allsop (Accent WRC) 45.23.0

7^th (8) Tapio Laukkanen/Harri Kaapro (Impreza N) 45.28.3

8^th (7) Steve Perez/Neil Dashfield (Focus WRC) 45.31.0

9^th (3) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC) 45.34.7

10^th (16) Richard Gower/Aled Davies (Accent WRC) 46.16.2

When Mark Higgins arrived into the late night service here at Hadrian’s Camp he couldn’t quite believe the result sheet and the fact that he was leading. Mark looked at his co driver Bryan Thomas, shook his head and then started to laugh. “That’s amazing. I had the puncture that cost over a minute and on that last stage I stalled the car after I overshot a junction. I lost 10, 16 seconds maybe. Admittedly I drove hard after that, I was arriving backwards instead of forwards at some junctions, but it worked.” Second placed Austin MacHale also reported overshoots – Austin joked “I think its time for the glasses”. He went on to say that the car had been a little bit wayward in the handling department at the rear. He tightened up the differentials and it had made a good difference.

David Higgins in 3^rd had a good run over the later stages although with pushing the car so hard at times the brake pedal go a bit soft towards the end of stage 7.

***Paul Bird’s time as shown above could well improve by 40s – Paul’s co driver Ian Windress is adamant that his time for stage 5 was 40s better than shown which, if amended, would jump the Bird Man up the leaderboard a few places. Paul went on to say that along with several other drivers he was caught out at a hairpin in stage 7, very deceptive in the dark, sucked them all in. Anyway, he overshot and stalled the Focus. In his attempt to get it going he had unknowingly flicked off the differential valve switches, which made the handling of the car all wrong, and there were a few interesting moments at a crest just up the road.

Young Gareth MacHale has been a real revelation tonight, right up with the top men, Gareth said. “We pushed hard enough tonight, I felt I could have an advantage in the dark. There were a couple of 5 lefts and a big crest in that last stage where I was on the limit, I’m happy to be talking to you here now. There’s still a long way to go”.

A couple of drivers not quite so happy included Jonny Milner. Jonny looked at his 9^th place on the leaderboard and said. “I don’t really understand why I’m so far down. I felt I went well and the car feels good. OK I have this infection of the inner ear, a virus, and it makes a slight difference, but still I’m disappointed”. To add to the woes inside that Corolla WRC co driver Nicky is suffering from food poisoning! Also in the not so happy camp was Tapio Laukkanen. The Finnish driver said “No, not go very well. I don’t know how to drive this car, I’m braking too early and have no feeling. I don’t really understand it although it is 3 years ago since I drove Group N. In test the car was working well, for me it is now finding the right way to use it. I think I must handle the car differently. Hopefully I will get there tomorrow”.

Sebastian Ling said “Its not good, the car’s all over the place, we were off the road in that last stage, dropped a minute”. Sebastian’s 6^th place is a far cry from his fighting 2^nd on the Rally of Wales. Also away down in performance compared to the Rally of Wales is Jon Ingram, 11^th on tonight’s results. Jon commented “I’m full of tablets, feeling sick, I’ve two compressed discs in my back. I was off the road on Rushy Knowe which didn’t help the times or the back, couldn’t find reverse”. Steve Perez in the Vodka Kick Focus WRC said. “I wasn’t aggressive earlier on, went better towards the end, hopefully it will be better tomorrow”.

Drivers just outside the above leaderboard include Jon Ingram in 11^th. Lorna Smith 12^th. Stephen Petch 13^th, the latter 2 in group N Imprezas. Aaron MacHale is 14^th in his Lancer and Robert Swann 15^th in his Impreza. Class leaders include. Chris Davies who is just ahead of Brian O’Mahony in S1600 and Robbie Dale leads the F2, having said that there are still some times to come in. More news in the morning..BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net