RALLY NEWS NO.9 Manorhamilton/Sunday
12.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 Leitrim
1st (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC)
2.01.25.4
2nd (7) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC)
2.03.35.3
3rd (2) Chris Atkinson/Glenn Macneall (Impreza N)
2.06.22.1
4th (1) Daniel Carlsson/Jonas Andersson
(Mitsubishi WRC) 2.06.40.1
5th (11) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza
WRC) 2.09.05.5
6th (17) Aaron MacHale/Ger McMonagle (Corolla WRC)
2.12.32.7
7th (21) Garry Jennings/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N)
2.13.10.7
8th (22) Shaun Gallagher/Charlie McGinty (Lancer
N) 2.13.48.8
9th (28) Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Lancer N)
2.16.10.9
10th (39) Conor McCloskey/Crawford Henderson
(Lancer N) 2.16.31.4
The fastest man through stage 9 was Daniel Carlsson in his
works Mitsubishi making a charge for 3rd place while the
race at the very front for the overall lead has settled into a
matter of getting the car to the finish for Eugene Donnelly and 2nd
placed Eamonn Boland. The meat in the sandwich in the race for 3rd
is Australian Chris Atkinson in the Prodrive Subaru. Chris knocked a
chunk out of a front rim through stage 9, and he’s doing a fantastic
job in the Production Impreza, but there is little more Atkinson can
do to keep Carlsson at bay. The latter said. “For sure I try for
the podium, the car is getting better, we are changing the
suspension all the time. We had a lack of testing for the rally,
just 1 day. That’s the way it is. The roads in Ireland are
different from anywhere elese in the world and the team have not
settings. I think it is good maybe that the rally should be in the
world championship because the roads are different!”
Eugene Donnelly and his co driver Paul Kiely were having a
right old giggle when they stopped off at the lay by here outside
Manorhamilton. It transpired that Eugene had nearly put his Corolla
WRC in the ditch when he was taking his crash helmet off. A bit of
a mix up but no real problem. Eugene freely admits it is a matter
now of getting the car to the finish. Francis Regan, co driving for
Eamonn Boland, in 2nd position, expressed much the same
sentiments when he said. “Just want to get into Sligo now”. Patrick
Elliott is still going at a good pace, and his co driver Paul
Goodman recounted a major moment towards the end of that Leitrim
stage when their fabulous Subaru launched itself at a fierce 2 wheel
angle on a fast left over crest jump junction. Aaron MacHale in 6th
told of a puncture on the road section after the stage, no problem
at all, and also of an under body protection plate which had come
loose on the previous stage, caused a massive scraping noise but was
no real problem.
Garry Jennings in 7th overall and 2nd
group N had a good run through stage 9. Shaun Gallagher in 8th
is really struggling to keep any sort of pace going, his gpN Lancer
suffering a massive slipping clutch. Paul Harris & Conor McCloskey
in 9th and 10th are also having a great race
for 4th group N. Young Conor in the Fisher Foundation
backed Lancer reckons he backed off just a little too much on the
big jump in that Leitrim stage. Eddie Donaghy was 11th
but may have dropped a place, his Lancer suffering a puncture in
stage 9. Ray Breen had been outside the leaderboard in 12th
but he also encountered a puncture saying that he took the same
line, cutting in really close, as the cars in front, on a right
hander, but he clunked a stone and the tyre rapidly deflated. Just
not Breen’s day. Paddy White damaged 2 wheels in stage 8 and
dropped a bit of time. Paddy was 17th overnight, moved up
3 or 4 places, but is now knocked back to 15th. The
reason for David James’ retirement was that oil had leaked on to the
floor of the car yesterday afternoon when the gearbox got damaged,
and this morning the spillage that couldn’t be cleaned started to
smoke and cause bad fumes.
Emma McKinstry is still going well and is coming into the
top 20 in her gpN Lancer. Sligo man Barry Horan has his Subaru also
in to the top 20 but is now slowing because his Impreza brake discs
are warping. Darren Gass is leading cl. A6 in his Fiesta. Adrian
McBride was leading that class in his Peugeot overnight but is now
back to 3rd with Adrian McElhinney 2nd in his
Peugeot 206. Brian O’Mahony is back in 4th following
various small problems with his Puma. Alan McMahon continues to lead
class N3 in his Honda Integra. While Kenneth McHale is the front
runner in class N1 in his Toyota Yaris and Peter Devaney is very
much on his own in his class A7 Fiesta.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
** FOR LIVE SMS RESULTS: Irish mobiles text RALLY ITC to
53503. UK mobiles text RALLY ITC to 60066. Cost 30c/25p
