RALLY NEWS NO.4 Armagh/Service/Friday 9pm

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Todd’s Leap
1st (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Corolla WRC) 25.54.0
2nd (4) Peadar Hurson/Damien Connolly (Impreza WRC) 26.04.5
3rd (17) Kris Meeke/Glenn Patterson (Citroen C2) 26.04.7
4th (25) Garry Jennings/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 26.15.6
5th (3) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 26.25.7
6th (13) Gareth Jones/David Moynihan (Impreza WRC) 26.26.2
7th (20) Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 26.39.6
8th (16) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 26.41.8
9th (14) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 26.47.2
10th (15) Rory Galligan/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 26.48.0

Eugene Donnelly turned in fastest time in stage 4 by quite a margin to leapfrog ahead of Kris Meeke and Peadar Hurson to take the lead. Neither Meeke nor Hurson were slow in the stage, but Donnelly was stunningly fast. Pirelli Tarmac Champion Eugene was bubbling at stage finish and said “That was a real driver’s stage, it was great, really great”. Peadar Hurson said “I’m happy with the set up now, but I wasn’t taking too many risks”. Kris Meeke remarked “There were some serious jumps in that stage, I thought originally the suspension was too soft, but maybe its too hard!” Garry Jennings was another to set a good time, 4th fastest, Garry really getting on to this world rally car driving. Gareth Jones had been 4th but slipped to 6th when he spun his Subaru at a hairpin. Eamonn Boland reported no real problems at stage finish.

Gwyndaf Evans has inched into the lead of the group N category and holds 7th overall, surprisingly the Welshman commenting “It didn’t feel good, I’m just not happy”. Mark Higgins lost a little bit of ground on that stage and said “The car doesn’t like the bumps, I don’t know what’s wrong, maybe something was bent in the accident”. Ryan Champion is up into 2nd group N. Rory Galligan maintains 4th and was quite happy at stage finish and saying “I had a good run”. Jonny Milner has slipped back to 14th overall, the former British Champion telling us “I had a very big moment at the same spot where McNulty went off. I was just an inch off line and it nearly went disastrously wrong”. Young Stuart Jones continues to lose ground to the top group N drivers, Stuart still looking for confidence and still reckoning that he’s made his notes too slow. Underlying that there is always the possibility that something is not quite right with the car. Colm Murphy lost a bit of ground on that stage, Colm reckons the plan tonight is just to get the car through. Seamus Leonard continues to be the best of the Tarmac group N drivers, he’s 11th overall while Phillip Morrow had a great run, and has closed to within half a second of Leonard. Morrow was 9th fastest overall on that stage.

Killarney man Dave Randles has retired his ex works Nissan Almera with fuel problems, Dave could have tied up his class in the Pirelli Tarmac series this weekend, but that is not to be now. Maurice Gass seemed to be running very late, or has stopped in stage 4. Sean McArdle seems to have retired his SEAT Cordoba WRC, reason as yet unknown. Roman Kresta is well down the time sheets in his Fiesta Super 1600, the car suffering clutch slip. John Mulholland’s diesel Skoda is still going strong but dropping a minute a stage. Emma McKinstry is well on the pace and still just inside the top 20. Young Toni Kelly is also going well although felt she was on the wrong tyres earlier for her Civic Type R. Barry Clark is up into 17th place overall now in his Fiesta Super 1600, Barry feeling that there is something not quite right in the gear change whenever he is going down the box.
LATEST NEWS: Roman Kresta reportedly stopped in stage 5, possibly alternator difficulties with his Fiesta Super 1600.

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks to Michael Patterson)
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