1^st (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 36.33.0

2^nd (2) Derek McGarrity/Diarmuid Falvey (Impreza WRC) 37.07.8

3^rd (4) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 38.10.0

4^th (12) Rory Galligan/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 38.11.6

5^th (11) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 38.12.3

6^th (9) Jon Ingram/Ian Allsop (Focus WRC) 38.17.9

7^th (16) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Ignis) 38.22.9

8^th (15) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 38.33.0

9^th (21) Seamus Leonard/John McCafferty (Lancer N) 38.38.0

10^th (17) Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 38.38.1

Eugene Donnelly turned in a stunning performance over this evening's stages to dominate this Jim Clark Rally and give one of the clearest indications yet as to just why he is the Pirelli Tarmac Champion.  The Northern Ireland man brought his Corolla in here to service and said. "We had a brilliant run over the last lot of stages. I know we had a bit of a moment on the first stage earlier but otherwise it was a good clean run and we pushed hard over Abbey St Bathans although I was being careful of the rocks. Then in Eccles I wasn't pushing quite so hard but I was still 4s quicker.  Tomorrow's a new day of course and I think there is more to come from Derek McGarrity.  We thought about this rally since last year and my brother Charlie had a gut feeling that a softer compound tyre would work. I know it doesn't make sense but we tried it over the last 3 stages and it did work and I'm the only one not complaining about the car sliding about!"   When Derek McGarrity in 2^nd place was asked how he got on through that 2^nd loop of stages he said. "The first one was a bit s..t - at the big jump a jumper battery which somehow got left in the car, came flying out from between the seats from the back and nearly took my elbow off. I struggled for the rest of the stage. Not good, but then I make plenty of mistakes, the mechanics are entitled to one too!"

Gareth Jones had got up to 3^rd place after stage 4 but his Subaru dropped right out of the top 10 when the steering broke following contact with a chicane. Gareth is confident he can get the car fixed and be back on song with it tomorrow. Eamonn Boland had been up to 2^nd after stage 3, but the Wexford man lost time when his Focus WRC incurred a rear puncture which also wiped out a brake line, so not only did he lose time in stage 4 he also lost time through stages 5 and 6 as the car had front brakes only.  He really did quite well to lose so little time.

In Group N Rory Galligan has been setting the roads alight but then blotted his copybook ever so slightly in stage 6 when his Lancer slithered on at a hairpin left after the ford.  The road up there and into the chicane at the bridge is getting very slippy.  Anyway, Rory managed to keep his group N advantage over Mark Higgins. Mark is really driving his Subaru flat out, going brilliantly on the twisty stages but is possibly losing out in the "grunt" stakes to the Lancers.  Ryan Champion was kicking himself a bit having spun his Lancer in stage 4 and then had an overshoot in stage 5.  David Higgins is still outside the leaderboard in the 3^rd works Lancer, David trying to take the ford in Langton a bit more gently this time, then found the car went straight on and he had to reverse. 

In the Super 1600 category Guy Wilks still leads from Roman Kresta, by approximately 30s but Guy has lost a few seconds with his Suzuki gear cut playing up, the engine revs dying going into 4^th gear and then Guy locked up under braking at the Langton chicane and lost a few more seconds. Barry Clark had a good run through stages 4 and 5 in his Fiesta Super 1600, but then stalled at the water splash in Langton and lost a fair bit of time.

Further stories include - Barry Johnson having brake troubles to ad to his earlier woes and he's well down the classification. William Stobart was going well but has now fallen right back having lost nearly 4 minutes in Langton when his Focus engine cut out and then the gear change gave trouble. Gwyndaf Evans had some intercom problems. Seamus Leonard reckons he fell asleep through stage 4 but then flew through the next stage. Shaun Gallagher is either running very late or has pulled out following some sort of problem on the road section after service, almost as if he had lost some paperwork or something. Roy White is still struggling with his car being well down on power. Colm Murphy had an overshoot and couldn't find reverse, lost some time. Phillip Morrow is on 38.58.6, a few places outside the leaderboard, but his Lancer broke its gearbox in stage 5 and he is going to have to change the box here at service. Stuart Jones is rapidly making up for lost time now that he has his suspension sorted. Jonny Milner has smacked the side of his Lancer against the Langton chicane.  

More news in the morning....BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

(our thanks to Amy (MicroCam) and Liam Hayes from Cork for their help with distribution) Thanks as well to Paul & Jean in Results)

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