RALLY NEWS NO.3 The Mall/Armagh/Friday 7.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 City Special
1st (4) Peadar Hurson/Damien Connolly (Impreza WRC) 18.19.6
2nd (17) Kris Meeke/Glenn Patterson (Citroen C2) 18.20.6
3rd (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 18.22.4
4th (13) Gareth Jones/David Moynihan (Impreza WRC) 18.28.0
5th (25) Garry Jennings/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 18.32.2
6th (3) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 18.35.5
7th (14) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 18.40.8
8th (20) Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 18.41.4
9th (16) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 18.43.5
10th (15) Rory Galligan/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 18.44.2

Eugene Donnelly was fastest through the spectator stage, the Armagh City Special test, but didn’t quite do enough to improve on his 3rd place overall. While Peadar Hurson did just enough to inch ahead of Kris Meeke and into the lead. Kris Meeke was leading after stage 2 but said after stage 3 “The car is just not set up right, actually its one of the worst set ups we’ve had for the season”. When quizzed as to why this should be when he spent much of yesterday on the Cooley Mountain stage, he said “We were really only doing guest rides, not serious set up”. Peadar Hurson had remarked after the 2nd stage that his Impreza seemed a bit “wallowy”. Peadar told us here at service that he managed to tighten up the suspension a little himself on the road, but couldn’t reach the rebound and hopes to get it sorted at service. He also said “But it wasn’t too bad, its early days on the rally”.

Eugene Donnelly commented “I really enjoyed the super special. Paul thought we were a bit slow, but it seemed alright to me. We were a bit adventurous on the tyre choice but I’m pleased enough the way its going”. Eamonn Boland seemed a bit quiet but said everything was OK. Eamonn was of course first on the Tim McNulty accident so maybe that is why he is a bit subdued. Gareth Jones in 4th said everything was OK but “It was a long day doing recce yesterday and then I got up at 5 o’clock this morning to go shooting, so I’m feeling a bit tired!” Garry Jennings in 5th told us “The nerves are going away now, I can concentrate on the rally. The intercom problem I think was just a battery pack. I’m concentrating on not putting a wheel wrong!”

Mark Higgins has moved ahead of Gwyndaf Evans to take the group N lead. Mark had that earlier problem when he had an accident in his Subaru before the start, and he said “The car’s OK, yes there is a wee bit of vagueness in the steering but we’ll have to live with it. We lost gearbox oil on the way up to stage 2 when the cooler broke. We’ve bypassed it and here we are”. Gwyndaf Evans reported no problems while Ryan Champion in 3rd again mentioned his slight worry over brakes and a “long” pedal. Colm Murphy and Seamus Leonard are now tying for 11th place and best of the Irish group N drivers, just ahead of Roy White. Leonard was nearly caught out on a gravel patch in stage 2 but otherwise OK. Colm Murphy feels that his car is down on power. Phillip Morrow is 0.6 of a second behind Roy White and fairly happy with the way things are going. Michael Curran is 9s behind Morrow, Michael forgetting to switch on his Lancer’s differential at the start of stage 2. Julian Reynolds is reasonably on the pace, sandwiched between Morrow and Curran. Jimmy McRae is further back as he settles in to his Geoff Jones prepared Impreza.

Emma McKinstry is on a total of 19.12.7, which is around about 20th at the moment, Emma having a ball in the world rally car but said her stomach was in her mouth at the start of the super special when the car’s gear change froze, but her father Kenny talked her through the sequence to rectify it. Maurice Gass has had a n3ew sensor fitted on the clutch of his Fabia. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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