RALLY NEWS NO.1 Rally HQ Athenry/Sunday morning early..

Patrick Elliott in his Subaru heads a star studded entry for this Galway Summer Stages Rally, the Cavan man on the crest of a wave at the moment and looking for his 3rd consecutive Dunlop National Championship victory, having won in Sligo and Clonmel. This is the 8th round of the series and it is a close run thing at the top of the points between Elliot and Charlie Donnelly. Charlie was exploring the possibility of using his Fabia WRC this weekend, but a new fuel cell hasn’t arrived in time so he is sticking with the faithful family Corolla WRC. Patrick Elliott starts at No.1, Charlie Donnelly at 2. Aaron MacHale is at No.3 in his Focus WRC and is hoping that the suspension on the car behaves a bit better than on its last outing in Tipperary.

Tim McNulty is a welcome addition to the line up. Meath man Tim, a stone and a half lighter since his recent operation, normally contests the Tarmac Championship events. He has had a bit of a rally lay off, so today’s outing is primarily a warm up for next weekend’s Ulster Rally. Tim has had one Dunlop series outing this year. That was on the Circuit of Kerry where he was shaking down his new Impreza WRC S11. He won that. Can he repeat the feat here? It is worthwhile remembering that Tim is not registered for the Dunlop series so will not interfere with the points battle at the front no matter where he finishes.

When quizzed on the possibility of a hat-trick here, Patrick Elliott replied, “Who knows? We’ll just go out and do our best, and enjoy the rally. Charlie will certainly be going for it, and he has the advantage in the Championship when it comes to dropped scores. That problem we had with the car on the Stonethrowers, with petrol in the oil, has been fixed by the Prodrive engineers, so the Subaru is looking good.” Charlie Donnelly commented, We’re looking forward to it. The Corolla is just as it finished the Stonethrowers. The suspension setting is critical, two clicks can make a big difference, but it should be right from the word go. I love the 2nd stage here, real flowing, but overall who knows! Tim McNulty commented, “Its ten weeks since I’ve done a stage, and the boys here are on a fast pace, so this should be a good marker for me”

Former National Champion Niall Maguire is at 5, Niall’s last outing was cut short when his Subaru’s electrics packed up so he will be hoping for a better run this time.; Michael Barrable at 6 is gradually getting into the way of his Focus WRC and as each event goes by is getting closer to the top pace so he will be hoping for yet another improvement here in Galway. Noel Redmond at 8 drives another of the sophisticated Subaru WRC S11s. Noel was 3rd on his last outing on the Stonethrowers and is looking for another good result here. Noel McCarrick at 8 reports all well and has Paul Horan co-driving this time. Car 9 was to be George Cullen but he is non starting.

Alan Ring and Willie Fannin in their respective Group N Imprezas make up the top 10. Ring starts with 10 on the car, Fannin with 11. These two are having a fantastic battle for group N superiority in the Dunlop championship. Just some of the top group N drivers who will be giving them a hard time include Kevin Kelleher, Tadgh Linehan, Ian Barrett, Gabriel Martin and PJ McGrath.

In the race for the 2 wheel drive honours Maurice Moffett is the top seed at No.24. Maurice decided to check his Starlet’s differential before the rally and discovered 3 cracked teeth, so its as well he had a look! Hot on Maurice’s tail is sure to be Enda Keenan in his black Escort as well as drivers such as Paddy Boyle and Sean Lyons. There is a full entry of 151 cars due to start the rally plus the Junior section with Jason Ryan (Civic), Barry Meade (Escort) and Patrick Cunningham (Civic) the top 3 seeds. Then of course there are lots of really good drivers outside the top seeds, so it should be a really interesting rally.

Principal non starters in the main rally, George Cullen, whom we have already mentioned, Hugh M Doherty, Pat Spain and Gary McPhillips.

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

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