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RALLY NEWS NO.4 Friday/Service/4pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 BREENAGH 2
1st (2) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 24.22.2
2nd (1) Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4 WRC) 24.52.1
3rd (7) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 25.05.4
4th (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 25.16.1
5th (11) Kevin Lynch/David Moynihan (Focus WRC) 25.21.4
6th (16) Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Corolla WRC) 26.05.4
7th (15) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 26.21.5
8th (26) Seamus Leonard/Gerry McVeigh (Lancer N) 26.47.5
9th (17) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 26.48.4
10th (24) Hugh M Doherty/Michael McBride (Impreza WRC) 27.01.4
The times for stage 4, Breenagh 2, show a very tight race between the
drivers at the top. The rain was bouncing off the hillside as Loeb brought
the fantastic little Citroen into the stage finish, the clock showed the
Frenchman to be 8s faster than his first run despite the roads being so
much wetter. Mark Higgins was still fastest with a time of 4.19.5. Loeb
was on 4.20.1. Mikkelsen 4.21.9. Kevin Lynch 4.26.2. Tarmac Champion Eugene
Donnelly was further back, his Reid Motorsport Subaru stopping the clock
on 4.39.4 and Eugene wasn’t a happy man. His neck problem seemed
temporarily forgotten as he recounted a puncture 4km from the end of the
stage. He kept the Subaru going but there is a fierce noise now in the
gearbox and he told us that it seemed to be in every gear as well as neutral,
huge rattles and very worrying.
Sebastien Loeb commented at that stage finish. “That is OK, a lot
better than the first run”. Mark Higgins said “It was OK,
a bit faster than the first time but it is a lot wetter”. Tim McNulty
reported. “I am not happy with this new set up, it’s a step
backwards”. Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen said he had a good
run, as did Paul Harris. Patrick Elliott reported that his Subaru brakes
didn’t seem to be right.
Seamus Leonard set fastest group N time but had a lucky escape when he
cut a left hand corner too tight and broke the front left wheel, but somehow
he lost little time. Colm Murphy is right on Leonard’s tail for
group N honours but at the same time current group N Champion Murphy is
taking no big risks. Also in group N James Cullen felt that the set up
in his car was a bit better for that run while Michael Curran changed
his suspension set up also, made it softer and it seemed better. Michael
was just 1s down on Garry Jennings who in turn was just 1s down on Murphy
with James Cullen sandwiched in between those times. Garry Jennings felt
the stage was much slippier that time. Willie John Dolan lost some time
when he avoided the4 big rock in stage 3 but then ran over a load of debris
and punctured 2 tyres.
PJ McDermott, seeded back at 61, had a good run and recorded a top 10
time for the stage, although overall he is just outside the leaderboard.
Kevin Barrett is also just a few seconds outside the 10th place, Kevin
not too happy with his tyre choice for the first loop of stages.
Provisionally Brian Brogan is leading the National Rally ahead of Phil
Collins with Damien Gallagher 3rd, Eugene Ferry 4th, Martin McGee 5th
and Paul Gallagher 6th in his Corolla, the first 5 driving Escorts. This
has to be tempered with caution however as there is a slight question
mark over the stage 2 times. Finally for now it is good to see Danny Caddye
still going in the Civic, Danny of course raising funds for the Helping
Hands cancer charity. There are some collectors in the service area today
and tomorrow as well as on stages and all contributions are welcome.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks
to Michael Patterson)
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