RALLY NEWS NO.4 Omagh Service/Saturday 1.15

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 Mary Gray
1st (2) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 27.39.9
2nd (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 27.43.7
3rd (4) Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Impreza WRC) 27.44.9
4th (5) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 27.55.6
5th (9) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 28.20.0
6th (3) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 28.21.7
7th (6) Kevin Lynch/David Moynihan (Focus WRC) 28.23.7
8th (10) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 28.28.6
9th (7) Peadar Hurson/Michael Orr (Impreza WRC) 28.47.2
10th (12) Sean Devine/Paul McGlaughlin (Impreza WRC) 29.05.3

The Mary Gray stage brought a change to the leaderboard with Kris Meeke losing the lead when his Subaru spun and Andreas Mikkelsen dropped out of contention when he put his Focus into a field. Mark Higgins was fastest by 4s from Eugene Donnelly. At service in control here in Omagh Mark said. “I’m a bit surprised, we had problems in the stage, I pulled the belts tight and the intercom came undone cutting Rory off in his prime! We also had a stall at the start line of the stage”. All in all then it was remarkable that Mark was fastest. Eugene Donnelly said. “About a mile into each stage I’m backing off slightly, not pushing too hard, the car seems to get tail happy and then it comes back a bit, but its OK, just needs a bit of tweaking. To be fair this dry weather levels the playing field, its just like a race track, no challenge, not like Galway”. Kris Meeke said. “We had a spin at the last junction of the stage, we are having a front diff problem but that is not what caused the spin, I just touched the hand brake. I reckon we lost about 15s.” Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen reported on his accident. “It was over a crest and the guys in front had been cutting, there was gravel and the car went sideways into a fence and then into a field where we must turn round”. Andreas lost a good 30s on that stage with the accident but the car seems straight, driving OK although the co-driver’s side window is smashed and the door is badly dented.

Tim McNulty, who has young Gareth MacHale checking his pace notes for gravel patches etc., is right on the pace in his Pierse backed Subaru, but at the same time Tim is in absolute bits himself with that high temperature and influenza. Further stories included Eamonn Boland spinning his Focus. Kevin lynch put his Focus off the road at a fast corner into a square corner on gravel, lost a few seconds. Peadar Hurson’s Impreza finished the stage with a broken drive shaft, his Subaru going even more sideways than usual. Gareth Jones in the Reid Transport Focus is still slightly off the pace, he just can’t figure out what is wrong with the car. Gareth’s team mate James Cullen was off the road briefly on that last stage, happily his Lancer still going OK. Stephen Murphy had a good time on that one, the Carlow man saying he was trying very hard. Terry McGonigle lost a few seconds, his Impreza WRC steering still bent from the earlier accident. Hugh M Doherty lost a lot of time, the Donegal man’s Focus having a bad misfire. Denis Biggerstaff was slightly off the pace, his Impreza not turning in properly and he reckons he will try different tyres. Global Group director Noel McCarrick feels that his Impreza is down on power and he is also taking time to settle in with his new navigator.

In Group N Seamus Leonard was again fastest by a long way, Colm Murphy’s Impreza suffered a puncture and Roy White’s Lancer is chewing up front tyres. John McGlaughlin was getting on the pace fairly well with his Lancer, getting used to the big new brakes but then one mile into stage 3 he took a crest into a hairpin right too hard and slithered up a wee lane, losing time. Just behind the leading group N cars is Killarney man Kevin O’Donoghue, almost a minute down on Leonard with Willie Fannin a further 14s back.

The early times from the Historics show Adrian Kermode in his Porsche leading from Sean Tracey in the BMW by just 3s. No times as yet for Dessie Nutt. We do know that Mervyn Johnston was up most of the night fitting a new engine to Dessie’s Mini Cooper S.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net