RALLY
NEWS NO.7 St
Angelo Service/Saturday 5.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD
AFTER STAGE 6 – end of Leg
1
1st (5) Eugene
Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 1.24.41.8
2nd (4) Gareth
MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 1.24.55.2
3rd (7) Eamonn
Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 1.26.06.6
4th (2) Chris
Atkinson/Glenn Macneall (Impreza N) 1.27.59.7
5th (6) Kenny
McKinstry/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 1.29.34.4
6th (1) Daniel
Carlsson/Jonas Andersson (Mitsubishi WRC) 1.29.49.3
7th (11) Patrick
Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 1.29.54.0
8th (25) Michael
Curran/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 1.30.15.3
9th (17) Aaron
MacHale/Ger McMonagle (Corolla WRC) 1.32.52.7
10th (9) Ray
Breen/Andrew Purcell (Focus WRC) 1.33.22.7
Eugene Donnelly turned in a
scorching performance through stages 5 and 6 to move into the lead
of this Rally Ireland ahead of Gareth MacHale. Gareth had led
throughout the day but a couple of problems through the last 2
stages the day frustrated the young man’s advantage. Swedish driver
Daniel Carlsson was also in trouble towards the end of the day, his
Mitsubishi breaking its wipers and Daniel having to jury rigg pieces
of red cord to pull the blades back and forward across the screen.
A far cry from the sophisticated technology of the half a million
pound rally machine.
The battle at the front
between Donnelly and young MacHale was somewhat different. Eugene
picked wet weather tyres which were just right for the streaming
conditions and he said everything went well on stage 5. He pushed
very hard. On stage 6 he was sitting behind MacHale at the start
line when he saw Gareth’s Focus WRC stall and refuse to start for
over 20s. Eugene knew the lead was within his grasp and he
certainly grabbed it. He said he didn’t take any chances, everything
worked very well and he had a great run. As for Gareth he was very
upset and frustrated when he came into service, but the car stalling
was really just one of those things that seems to happen on the
latest Focus car. On stage 5 the heated screen stopped working and
he had problems with visibility. It leaves the gap between the 2
starting the Sunday leg just over 13s. Gareth competed over the
Sunday stages last year so may have a slight advantage, but if it
stays wet Donnelly is going to be hard to beat. Having said that
Gareth’s last comment was “we’ll make a fight of it tomorrow”.
Eamonn Boland had a really
smooth run through the afternoon stages to hold 3rd
overnight. While Chris Atkinson also had a good run, made a good
tyre choice for the rain, although he had one overshoot at a
junction, telling us he pulled the hand brake and “had some fun”.
Further stories include –
Kenny McKinstry picking the wrong tyres for the last 2 stages and he
said it was a game of survival as his Subaru slithered over standing
water. Kenny said he spent the 2nd half of the stage
looking in his mirror waiting for Boland to catch him. Ironically
Kenny advised his daughter Emma to go for a cut wet tyre, which she
did, and had a good run, while he himself went for a cut slick! Ray
Breen had a huge moment over a crest jump towards the end of stage
6, Waterford man Breen reckoning he should have stayed mid over the
crest, instead he went slightly left at 130mph landed in the ditch
and with a 6 left rapidly approaching was very lucky to get away
with no more than a few bits of grass sticking out of his Focus.
David James is lying just outside the top 10 behind Shaun Gallagher
and Garry Jennings, but his Focus is in gearbox trouble and there is
oil floating around the floor of his Ford. Paddy White is lying
inside the top 15 now in his Impreza WRC and has done a great job
this afternoon considering the Navan man’s lack of recce time.
Shaun Gallagher has been in
clutch trouble all day and has now discovered there is a hole in a
small oil pipe behind the turbo and there is lubricant dripping down
on to the clutch. Hopefully Shaun can get the problem sorted here at
this service which is a slightly longer one at end of day. Garry
Jennings took a big gamble for the last 2 stages, went for slick
tyres, and wanted to make a real charge over his home stages but of
course the tyre choice was a disaster.
More news in the morning.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
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