1^st (10) Kevin Lynch/Allan Harryman (Impreza WRC) 35.36.4

2^nd (7) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 35.41.8

3^rd (11) Gareth Jones/David Moynihan (Impreza WRC) 35.49.0

4^th  (5) Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson (Impreza WRC) 35.53.9

5^th  (1) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 35.53.9

6^th (8) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 35.56.5

7^th  (6) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Lancer WRC) 35.58.3

8^th  (2) Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (Focus WRC) 36.11.1

9^th (9) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 36.29.7

10^th (19) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Lancer WRC) 36.30.3

11^th (12) Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 36.33.2

12^th (15) Stephen Murphy/M Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 36.34.4

Car No.3 Colin McRae/Nicky Grist (Metro 6R4) 36.16.0: Equivalent to 8^th on the International Rally but running in the National Rally where they top the time sheets.

Eugene Donnelly had a torrid time over the last few stages, his Corolla WRC going on fire at the end of stage 5. Eugene managed to get the fire out and lost no time then the car lost all power through stage 6 and the Tarmac Champion dropped well over 3 minutes and is outside the leaderboard now on a provisional total of 39.11.11.

Leader at the end of Leg 1 Kevin Lynch brought his Subaru into service here in Letterkenny and said. “I’m finding it difficult, it’s a hectic pace, I really needed more tarmac rallies this year to compete at this level”.  2^nd placed Tim McNulty seemed to be running quite late when he arrived in here to service but his co driver Anthony Nestor assured us they had no penalties it was just a mix up over a time card. Tim said “We’re there or thereabouts, its going well”.  Derek McGarrity also reported all well although his co driver Chris Patterson did say that he reckoned they had made a wrong tyre choice, going on an RE intermediate instead of a slick.  Gareth MacHale set some good times throughout the afternoon and Gareth said. “I’m happy with that, the car’s 100 per cent now”.   Matthew Wilson said “This is a different car and the engineering programme is worked through a button on the steering wheel, and when I alter the ALS it locks the differentials. We’re going better now but still not flat out”. 

Colin McRae had a great run this afternoon but slowed slightly in stage 6, his co driver Nicky Grist saying “We lost a rear damper, the car was quite wallowy. Hopefully it is something simple and it will be alright for tomorrow but at least we got some nice sideways drifts for the spectators. However we’re up against it in the dry, the car has mostly gravel roll bars and so forth, but Colin is giving it a real go anyway”. 

Andrew Nesbitt said at service “We changed a couple of things in the car, different tyres different setups. We’re looking at safe options, I’m taking this Donegal Rally as an experience to work with a “works” team, I just want a good clean run and I’m happy with the way things are going”.  His Mitsubishi team mate Mark Higgins wasn’t quite so happy and said “I’m driving really hard but the tyre choice was a disaster, we have a long brake pedal, its not going well”.  Eamonn Boland had a grant run. Gareth Jones changed the diff settings and said it transformed his car. Paul Harris stalled his Corolla in stage 6 but overall is happy with the way the car is going.  Kevin Barrett discovered the reason for his Impreza filling with smoke was because the exhaust was hitting the rear bumper and it was trying to go on fire. Tony Davies lost a lot of time, several minutes, when his Impreza WRC developed a severe misfire through stages 5 and 6.

In Group N  Shaun Gallagher provisionally holds the lead from Garry Jennings with Michael Curranf 3^rd, Roy White 4^th and Phillip Morrow 5^th.  Seamus Leonard has damaged the front of his Lancer when he hit a big tree in a farmyard in stage 4, same place where Willie Fannin had the accident earlier. Jonny Milner is getting closer to the pace but tells us that he is running his Lancer on the electronic settings for the Tesco fuel which he must use on the BRC so the car is slightly down on power compared to the Irish machinery. Several of the top group N drivers will receive a nominal time for stage 4 so the overall group N picture will become clearer later tonight.  

More news in the morning. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON