RALLY NEWS NO.6 St Angelo Service/Saturday
4.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5 Tyrone
1st (4) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC)
1.10.15.9
2nd (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC)
1.10.34.4
3rd (7) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC)
1.11.35.1
4th (2) Chris Atkinson/Glenn Macneall (Impreza N)
1.13.04.9
5th (6) Kenny McKinstry/James O'Brien (Impreza
WRC) 1.13.50.4
6th (11) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza
WRC) 1.14.52.7
7th (25) Michael Curran/Fabian McShane (Lancer N)
1.15.06.0
8th (1) Daniel Carlsson/Jonas Andersson
(Mitsubishi WRC) 1.15.17.7
9th (17) Aaron MacHale/Ger McMonagle (Corolla WRC)
1.17.08.9
10th (22) Shaun Gallagher/Charlie McGinty (Lancer
N) 1.17.52.3
As heavy rain descended on the roads of Co. Fermanagh it was
the signal for Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly to begin a great
charge. Eugene was fastest through stage 4 slicing into Gareth
MacHale’s lead. While on stage 5 Tyrone 2 Donnelly obliterated the
opposition. Eugene’s Corolla WRC stopped the clock on 15.04.7 for
the 27.44km of saturated asphalt road. Gareth MacHale was 20s
slower, Ray Breen another 21 back on that. Atkinson was just 1s
slower than Breen while Boland was just over a second down on
Atkinson and Carlsson was a further 12s back with a fairly mediocre
time which we reckon must signal a problem for the Swede. Eugene
has been saying all day that his Corolla performs so much on the
smooth stages. Yes, that Tyrone 2 stage is smooth and flowing but
even taking that into account it was a huge step forward for
Donnelly.
One driver not so happy was Maynooth man Kevin Barrett, his
Triton Showers Impreza WRC lost 5th and 6th
gears through the stage. Kevin was a very solid 11th
overall at the time. However, he saw no point in torturing the car
as it is going to the Catalunya Rally next week.
As can be seen above Chris Atkinson continues to dominate
Group N. Shaun Gallagher holds 2nd in the category with
Garry Jennings now 3rd despite his road penalties, Garry
up to 11th overall. Paul Harris is 4th gpN.
Kevin O’Donoghue 5th and Eddie Donaghy 6th
group N. Emma McKinstry has battled her way back to 21st
despite her time consuming puncture earlier.
Some other positions include – Ray Breen in 13th.
David James 17th. Paddy White doing well to hold 18th
despite not having any recce at all.
Looking outside this Rally Ireland – on the Malcolm Wilson
Rally in Cumbria, Malcolm himself led Paul Bird by 12s after the 2
Grizedale stages and with 4 stages still remaining Simon Hughes was
leading the Fiestas. Young Owen Murphy from Cork had led the Fiestas
earlier but disappeared in the Grizedale complex. Gordon Coleman
retired his Fiesta with a suspected electrical problem. Fermanagh’s
William Mavitty has also retired his Fiesta.
At Lansdowne Road with still a bit of time remaining Ireland
was leading Scotland 12-9.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
(with thanks to Andrew Kellitt)
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