1^st (6) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Lancer WRC) 1.00.15.5

2^nd (1) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 1.00.18.7

3^rd (19) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Lancer WRC) 1.00.20.1

4^th (5) Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson (Impreza WRC) 1.00.40.5

5^th (10) Kevin Lynch/Allan Harryman (Impreza WRC) 1.00.47.9

6^th (8) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 1.01.14.2

7^th (12) Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 1.01.19.3

8^th (9) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.01.21.0

9^th (2) Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (Focus WRC) 1.01.31.9

10^th (7) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 1.01.51.4

Car No.3 Colin McRae/Nicky Grist (Metro 6R4) 1.01.07.12: Colin McRae leads the National part of the rally and if he was competing in the International he would now be in 6^th position.

Out at the front of the International Gareth MacHale was fastest through stage 10, his time 7.36.1, Derek McGarrity recorded 7.37.3 and Andrew Nesbitt was 7.43.3. On our last Rally News we reported breaking news that Gareth Jones had rolled his Subaru in stage 10.  Gareth got the car going and was hirpling through the stage. As yet he has not clocked in here at service so we don’t know if he is in or out of the rally but he must have lost a mountain of time because at least 10 cars passed him.

Gareth MacHale said of that fastest time. “I’m delighted to have set  my first fastest time on the tarmac championship and its good to do it here in Donegal. Obviously the guys know these stages a lot better than I do.   I feel I’ve made my notes too slow but overall its going well. The thing now is not to go mad at Knockalla”.  Kevin Lynch said of his stage 9 puncture when he lost the lead. “It was the 3^rd corner, just clipped a tyre, that’s rallying, the car is handling OK and there’s a long way to go”.  Tim McNulty had a puncture in stage 7 which cost him a lot of time, he was battling his way back up the leaderboard but sustained another puncture in stage 10, on the front right. Tim said. “We were having a big cut, going fantastically hard, that’s the luck of the draw, but the rally’s not over yet”. 

Derek McGarrity was held up slightly by McNulty, Derek said. “It wasn’t Tim’s fault, he did spoil the time a little for us but he had nowhere to go it was so narrow and then we nearly crashed into him when he pulled over very suddenly.”  Colin McRae is still having a fabulous run in the Metro 6R4 and the spectators are loving it. Nicky Grist told us “I hope the spectators really liked a big slide that Colin put on specially for them on that last stage. It was a 3 left into a long 2 right downhill and Colin gave it a huge sideways Nicky Grist told us “I hope the spectators really liked a big slide that Colin put on specially for them on that last stage. It was a 3 left into a long 2 right downhill and Colin gave it a huge sideways throw, blipping the throttle at the same time and there were hundred of spectators on their feet waving their arms, magic stuff!” 

Andrew Nesbitt reported a good run through stage 10 with no problems, his team mate Mark Higgins reporting his car cutting out in the stage, costing him time. Matthew Wilson told us that his Focus WRC is very much back on song and going well. He went on to say that he was held up by Gareth Jones.  Just one of the many…..

In Group N Seamus Leonard is coming back into the picture following his accident yesterday and set a fastest gpN time this morning. Shaun Gallagher still leads gpN and is 38s ahead of Garry Jennings with Roy White 3^rd just ahead of Phillip Morrow. Colm Murphy has had some small problem in stage 10 with his Impreza but we don’t have the full picture just yet. 

In the National section Colin McRae leads from Dessie Keenan. Phil Collins was 3^rd but apparently his Escort has stopped with a mechanical problem just before the end of stage 10. It is still nip and tuck between Camillus Bradley & Damien Gallagher for 3^rd and 4^th.

Looking back to stage 8 Andrew Bushe was still leading his class in his little Saxo. Simon McElhinney was leading his class in his Civic. Brian Pat Doherty led cl.7 in his Escort Maxi. Andrew Gamble led cl.5 in his Micra. Young Toni Kelly is going remarkably well in her Civic Type R and was up to 55^th although she lost a few seconds in stages 7 and 8 when she was getting no grip.  James Wozencroft is in 51^st place in his Ignis and lying 4^th in his class. James and co driver Rob Fagg are normally very much front runners but they lost some time earlier when the catalytic converter got a bit choked up. They have that fixed now and are flying again!  More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

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