RALLY NEWS NO.10 Sligo Finish/Sunday 2.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 11 Last stage
1st (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC)
2.20.35.1
2nd (7) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC)
2.22.32.9
3rd (1) Daniel Carlsson/Jonas Andersson
(Mitsubishi WRC) 2.25.06.7
4th (2) Chris Atkinson/Glenn Macneall (Impreza N)
2.26.06.0
5th (11) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza
WRC) 2.28.35.5
6th (17) Aaron MacHale/Ger McMonagle (Corolla WRC)
2.32.37.3
7th (21) Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N)
2.32.37.3
8th (22) Shaun Gallagher/Charlie McGinty (Lancer
N) 2.35.31.3
9th (28) Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Lancer N)
2.36.43.4
10th (39) Conor McCloskey/Crawford Henderson
(Lancer N) 2.37.01.2
Eugene Donnelly and his co driver Paul Kiely were able to
cruise through the final stages of this Rally Ireland to take a
memorable victory. When we say cruise it is pretty relative –
Eugene, the current Pirelli Tarmac Champion, was still setting a
fair pace to finish just under 2ms ahead of Eamonn Boland’s Focus
WRC, with Swedish visitor Daniel Carlsson forging through the last
couple of stages to move ahead of Chris Atkinson in the race for 3rd.
The consolation for Atkinson was that his 4th place in
his Prodrive prepared Group N Subaru Impreza was good enough to win
the Production/Group N category. For Carlsson there were massive
last minute dramas when his Mitsubishi ran out of fuel and he had to
push the car into parc ferme. This is easier said than done with
these 4 wheel drive machines, and Daniel and his codriver Jonas
Andersson were on their knees as they struggled to get the car in
just within the allotted time.
There were no such dramas for Eugene Donnelly and he
commented. “I’m delighted for my co-driver Paul to win here in his
home town of Sligo. I’m just thrilled for him.” 39 year old Eugene
from Maghera in Northern Ireland went on to say. “The event was very
tough, but I suppose that is what WRC is all about. The rally was
pretty well faultless, there was a lot of pressure and in all
fairness to Gareth MacHale we had a great race. He just made a wee
mistake. C’est le vie. He has a great rally future. The rally was
tough but very good. For my part, we had great back up once again,
a terrific team.” Australian visitor Chris Atkinson said. “I’m
happy with the group N win, the rally was very good, very enjoyable.
The Subaru was a good package and we had no trouble during the
rally”. When Patrick Elliott brought his Subaru into the finish he
in part summed the rally up when he commented. “I’m delighted to be
here, it is the toughest event I’ve ever done including some on
mainland Europe. I have a great sense of achievement in what I have
done. The calibre of organisation was superb and I can’t think of
one thing that was not 100 per cent”.
Drivers who finished just outside the top 10 included – Ray
Breen who battled through punctures and accidents. Eddie Donaghy,
who also survived an accident. Letterkenny man Gavin Harris speeded
up towards the end and came into the top 15. As did Conor Byrne and
the evergreen Paddy White.
Finally for now – many thanks indeed to all who helped and
supported with our RallyNews and very well done to Tom Nolan and the
great Rally Ireland team for a superb job. Many people have sent
their best wishes for this rally and its ambition to join the world
rally championship, none more so than Ulster Television and RPM
presenter Pamela Ballantine who fronts the rally shows. Pamela is in
Cape Town in South Africa on a fund raising activity for the Belfast
Activity Centre and today completed a small part of the task which
was a 108km Cape Argus cycle race in 6 hours and 8 minutes and that
included a stop to fix a puncture. There’s life outside rallying!!!
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
RETROSPECTIVE:
Ray Breen was excluded from the results as his Focus WRC was removed
from parc ferme before its due time. Looking back to yesterday's
Malcolm Wilson Rally Cork youngster Owen Murphy scored a fantastic
result, first Fiesta home, first 2 wheel drive, and 16th overall. We
thought at one point that Owen had retired, but reportedly he jury
rigged a piece of wood under the engine to compensate for a sheared
engine mounting. Omagh's Paul Barrett was best Mk2
Escort. Paul Bird won the rally in a Subaru from Dave Weston
(Focus WRC).
