1^st (1) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Focus WRC) 1.06.20.1

2^nd (2) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.08.08.3

3^rd (4) Barry Johnson/Stewart Merry (Impreza WRC) 1.08.43.8

4^th (7) Sebastian Ling/David Moynihan (Accent WRC) 1.08.58.5

5^th (8) Rory Galligan/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 1.11.25.9

6^th (24) Robert Swann/Ken Bowman (Impreza N) 1.14.06.6

7^th (32) Brian O’Mahony/John Higgins (Puma) 1.14.46.6

8^th (10) Richard Gower/Aled Davies (Accent WRC) 1.14.47.3

9^th (30) Andrew Leece/Robbie Durant (Clio) 1.15.15.0

10^th (27) Rob Gill/Anders Howard (Impreza N) 1.15.29.3

With just 1 stage remaining on this Scottish International Rally, Mark Higgins’ advantage over 2^nd placed Austin MacHale is 1m48s meaning that barring any unforeseen circumstances Mark has only really to stroke his Focus WRC through the final Clatteringshaws stage to take victory.  Mark commented here at service “We were glad to get through that Glentrool stage, there were lots of rocks and holes. I did have a bit of a go through the Jenny’s Hill stage which was still quite smooth, but Glentrool made good practice for next week’s Acropolis Rally in Greece. It really paid to keep it on line.  Dick Cormack of Pirelli has given us these Safari type tyres which look as if they will never wear out or puncture, but we still have to be careful”. 

When asked how his brother David was following his accident last night in the Ae stage, Mark continued. “He seems fine today, it was precautionary really.  A funny thing happened though in hospital.  The ward sister discovered David walking about the ward in the middle of the night stark naked.  When she asked him what he was doing, he replied “I’m looking for my re-start time!”……..Mark went on to wonder was David thinking of taking up co-driving, as he has never looked for a restart time before!!

Austin MacHale in 2^nd place has very much decided to hold position, already looking forward to next weekend’s Shell Donegal International, and saying “Here on the Scottish I think 2^nd place is alright. Its good points and the rally can go either way. There’s no chance of catching Mark now.  I’ll ask him to come back here and do this 20 years from now, I’ll be 70 and he’ll be 50!!”   Austin went on to mention his son Gareth’s accident on the first trip through Glentrool.  The Corolla went off the road on the 6^th gear section across the moorland, and Austin suspects that one of the wheels has broken, something that can happen with those particular wheels when a stone gets jammed inside between the calliper and the rim. 

There’s still a fair old battle for 3^rd place with just 15s separating Barry Johnson and Seb Ling.  Johnson was slowed over the last stage or so when a front brake disc started to crack up.  He should get that fixed now. Seb Ling was 2^nd fastest through that last stage and he wouldn’t mind having a real go at Barry on the final stage. Try for a podium position, but at the same time always mindful of Pirelli championship points.

Thinking of points as well is Rory Galligan. Rory’s Lancer suffered a puncture 6 miles into Glentrool.  Along with co driver Greg Shinnors the pair pulled their Lancer in beside the landmark red trailer in the stage and did a brilliant job to change the wheel in 2 minutes.  They probably lost 3 minutes in total taking account slowing down and getting going and so forth. They then had to trail in Richard Gower’s dust for the rest of the stage.  Co driver Greg said that Rory’s driving over the last bit of the stage was pretty stunning. “It felt like a million miles an hour, his commitment in 6^th gear was fantastic”. 

News of another retirement is that James Edwards/James Phillips finished the 2^nd Glentrool stage with their Lancer’s gearbox making all sorts of bad noises, clunking and banging and they decided to retire.  Tom Metcalf lost a huge amount of time on the 2^nd run over Glentrool and he has dropped right out of the leaderboard. Andrew Leece still leads F2 in his Clio from Shaun Woffinden who is now 11^th overall in his Fiat Stilo.  Brian O’Mahony continues to do a good job in his Super 1600 Puma to hold 7^th overall. 

Barry Clark has fought his way back up to 13^th place and is still hopeful of some good Pirelli championship points in gpN despite losing that 5 minutes earlier with punctures in Glentrool.  (Barry is currently 5^th in Production Group N but 4^th in the points as Irishman Brendan Kelly is not registered).  Lorna Smith was leading the group N points starting the rally, but she has had more misfortune, another big time loss with punctures in stage 9 to leave her 1 from the end, 19^th overall, just ahead of Kate Heath in 20^th.

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net