RALLY
NEWS NO.9
Service Ballinasloe/Sunday
2pm
UNOFFICIAL
LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 13
Eglish
1st
(1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 1.45.59.7
2nd
(2) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 1.46.27.1
3rd
(6) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 1.47.29.7
4th
(11) Peadar Hurson/Damien Connolly (Impreza WRC) 1.47.39.3
5th
(3) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 1.47.59.8
6th
(4) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 1.48.29.1
7th
(8) Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Focus WRC) 1.48.43.0
8th
(5) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.49.04.0
9th
(138) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Impreza N) 1.52.52.7
10th
(9) Gareth Jones/David Moynihan (Impreza WRC) 1.52.55.4
11th
(22) James Foley/Dominic Markey (Lancer N) 1.53.14.1
12th
(23) Willie Fannin/Mick Courtney (Impreza N) 1.53.41.9
Tim
McNulty was the dominant factor through some of the earlier stages
today but on stage 12 and 13 Eugene Donnelly has managed stem and
indeed turn the tide, clocking up fastest times and putting a
little bit more daylight between his Corolla WRC and the hard
charging Subaru behind.
Eugene
commented about the difference in his performance “We stiffened
the car up, chose a slightly different tyre, and basically I
settled down. I sometimes think I’m slow to get up and going.
But I’m pushing reasonably hard now, had a few small mistakes,
nothing major. I’m feeling pretty settled and I’ve no issue
about the engine story from last night. I’m perfectly happy that
everything is 100 per cent”.
Tim McNulty looked slightly disappointed to have lost a
couple more seconds in stage 13 and told us. “We have a couple
of little problems, just small things, but I’m going really
hard. We’ll see what this afternoon brings”.
Eamonn
Boland in 3rd place told us that he is just
concentrating on keeping Peadar Hurson at bay. While Hurson said.
“I’m still playing slightly on the safe side, not on the door
handles, but I think I’m losing time as the car just doesn’t
have the top speed. The best it can manage on the straights is
112mph”. Derek
McGarrity was equal fastest with McNulty on stage 12 and 0.1 of a
second quicker than him on 13.
Derek, yes, is setting great times but can’t make any
impression on the cars in front.
Also setting super times now is Andrew Nesbitt. He was
particularly quick on stage 13 and reports that everything is
working well in the gear change and in the car and he is really
settling down now.
The
big story from Group N is that Phillip Morrow has retired his
Lancer in stage 13. The car is parked at the end of a long
straight before the chicane. There is some report of a wheel being
damaged, but this is secondhand information and we will have to
find out from Phillip later on to find out what went wrong.
Despite his stage 12 spin Colm Murphy is looking slightly more
comfortable in the lead of gpN. 2nd placed James Foley
wasn’t happy at all with the way his car was handling on slick
tyres over the last couple of stages. While 3rd placed
Willie Fannin is making no real impression on the cars in front.
Just
outside the above leaderboard Hugh M Doherty is 13th.
Paddy White is 14th. Kevin Kelleher is up to 15th
and starting to set some reasonable times in his gpN Lancer.
Seamus Leonard is 16th having been off the road briefly
this morning. Alan Ring is 17th and James Cullen 18th.
News from earlier is
that Darren Gass put his new M Sjport Fiesta off the road for 3
minutes while Paul Dempsey has retired his PJD Developments Group
N Impreza
, we think with mechanical problems.
In
the National section of the rally after stage 12 Tom Holton in his
Celica with Francis Kenny co driving had a 3m lead over Brendan
Donegan (Lancer) with Wesley Patterson 3rd in his
Escort. Donegal men Brian Brogan/Joe Friel 4th in their
Escort. More
news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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