RALLY NEWS NO.2
Dolgellau Service/Saturday 3.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 2
GARTHENIOG
1st (1) Mark
Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Focus WRC) 26.30.2
2nd (3) Matthew
Wilson/Scott Martin (Focus WRC) 27.40.4
3rd (2) Austin
MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 28.08.4
4th (4) David
Higgins/Daniel Barritt (Lancer N) 28.34.9
5th (6) Jon
Ingram/Shaun O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 28.43.9
6th (5) Sebastian
Ling/Ian Allsop (Accent WRC) 29.08.3
7th (15) Richard
Gower/Aled Davies (Accent WRC) 29.18.1
8th (8) Rory
Galligan/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 29.18.4
9th (7) Gareth
MacHale/Paul Nagle (Corolla WRC) 29.26.2
10th (11) Paul
Wedgebury/Gemma Price (Impreza N) 29.37.0
Mark Higgins has simply flown
through the first 2 stages of this International Rally of Wales
opening up a 40s gap over Matthew Wilson with Austin MacHale a
further 28s in arrears. Mark commented here at Dolgellau service.
“The stages are great, its good to be back here in Wales. The car
feels good, but I’d forgotten how fast some of the stages are and
they were a little greasy in places”. Matthew Wilson said. “I
expected Mark to be quick but I am surprised at how much time he
has taken. I can see some of his lines are pretty wild, but I
think I know where I’m losing some of the time, and I will try to
speed it up a bit. I think my pace notes are a bit
conservative”.
Austin MacHale in 3rd
was also a bit surprised at the pace and said. “Fair enough, I had
a bit of an overshoot in stage 1, but I thought I was going fairly
well. Having said that the car feels a bit drifty, and it feels
as well as if the surface is sapping some of the power. But we
did keep it tidy, I’ll just have to be a bit more committed”.
David Higgins leads Group N
and like his brother Mark reports no real problems, although it
has been a bit difficult for David switching from world rally car
technology to group N. Second in Group N is Paul Wedgebury,
Stuart Jones 3rd. Wedgebury is gradually getting into
the swing of his new Subaru, doing quite well really. Stuart Jones
is in a hired Lancer and forgot to switch on the anti lag switch
for a few seconds, otherwise going well. Rory Galligan in the 2nd
of the works Lancers is back in 12th place, having
suffered a puncture for 4 or 5 miles of stage 2, and also had a
spin in the middle of running with the flat rear tyre.
Young Steve Petch, from a start
number of 25, was up to 11th after 2 stages, and 5th
in Group N. Lorna Smith dropped some time on the 2nd
stage when her Impreza suffered a puncture. Andrew Barnes in the
group A Subaru also slowed with a puncture. Barry Clark is down in
16th place and on a steep learning curve with his new
Group N Subaru.
Further stories include –
Sebastian Ling’s Hyundai suffering some hydraulic problems – there
were dash lights flashing 3 miles into the first stage. Jon Ingram
reckons that he picked too hard a compound front tyre, and also
tried to be clever with his front brake pads. Neither worked, and
he feels for sure he lost some time, but he’s still 5th
overall.
Young Gareth MacHale is
settling into driving the Corolla WRC in the Welsh forests for the
first time. Says he is happy enough with he pace, feels he slowed
slightly in stage 2, discovered there was no water left in the
bottle for the anti lag system. It’s the same water for the wash
wipe, and that is when he found out. “Expensive stuff as well,
ionised water!” reported Gareth. His brother Aaron went well on
the first stage but not great on the 2nd as a dose of
flu that he had during the week came flooding back. Tony Davies
is well down the times, as he tries to come to grips with his
Impreza WRC on gravel. Robert Swann lost some time with brake
troubles.
Natalie Barratt has retired
her Impreza, we suspect with engine trouble, as the car was
misfiring over the start ramp. Peter Egerton seems to have also
stopped in his Hyundai, although this is unconfirmed. More news
later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
