| RALLY
NEWS NO.5
Service/Friday 5.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Mongorry
1st (2) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 40.16.9
2nd (1) Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4 WRC) 40.54.3
3rd (7) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 41.08.7
4th (11) Kevin Lynch/David Moynihan (Focus WRC) 41.40.9
5th (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 42.13.8
6th (15) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 42.53.6
7th (16) Paul Harris/Eugene O'Donnell (Corolla WRC) 42.55.3
8th (17) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 44.09.6
9th (24) Hugh M Doherty/Michael McBride (Impreza WRC) 44.10.0
10th (26) Seamus Leonard/Gerry McVeigh (Lancer N) 44.11.5
World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb scored his first fastest time of the
rally on stage 6, Mongorry, his Citroen C4 WRC stopping the clocks 2s
faster than Mark Higgins with Andreas Mikkelsen a scant 0.8 of a second
further back. Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly was a further 30s
back, Eugene very unhappy. Loeb was very busy on the radio as he
waited to come into service, his co driver Daniel Elena saying “It
was a little bit better”. Daniel went on to say that it is
now up to the engineers to see about more changes to the set up of the
Citroen.
Mark Higgins’ co driver Rory Kennedy said of today’s run.
“It was a fantastic start straight out of the blocks, the mechanics
will have a full spanner party now to make sure the car is OK for tomorrow.
It is Fanad Head first thing tomorrow and that will be a good guide for
the rally.” At that Higgins powered the Pirelli/MIS Subaru
on into service, Mark also happy to have an almost 40s lead starting day
2 of this Shell Donegal International Rally. Andreas Mikkelsen told
us “It has been whole day perfect except for stage 2 when we spin”.
When asked about tomorrow Andreas smiled and said “Always flat out!”
Eugene Donnelly struggled to even get his Subaru into service and he commented.
“We had the puncture on stage 4 and then the gearbox started to
misbehave and we were missing gears. On the road section we radioed the
engineers and were doing system checks and then from jammed in 6th gear
we were missing gears and had no reverse. The clutch isn’t working.”
Eugene leaned back in the seat of the Reid Motorsport Impreza, shook his
head and said. “A bit of a Hamlet day”.
Further stories from service in control included: Stephen Murphy said
he raised the ride height of his Subaru by 3ml and stiffened the rear
suspension and his times have been right on it through the last few stages.
Kevin Lynch commented. “Not a bad run today, a reasonable enough
pace. It was slippy”. Patrick Elliott wasn’t happy when
he brought his Subaru into service and said. “No wipers and no brakes”.
Paul Harris in the Corolla said. “That’s as fast as the car
can go, cannot drive any harder”. Denis Biggerstaff has all
the gears working on his Subaru now and he is a lot happier and it shows
in his times. Hugh M Doherty had an overshoot in stage 6 and lost quite
a few seconds. Niall Maguire had a jammed wiper in his Subaru. Tim
McNulty had more problems with his Subaru and has reportedly pulled out
on stage 5 and is going testing to try and get the set up sorted.
In Group N Seamus Leonard still leads from Colm Murphy with Garry Jennings
and Danny McBride battling for 3rd. James Cullen had a fastest gpN
time in stage 5 but then the gearbox started to play up in stage 6 and
he lost a few seconds. Mike Curran has slightly altered the suspension
on his Lancer and he’s just outside the fastest times. Garry
Jennings had a massive heavy landing in his Lancer in stage 6 and said
“The suspension seemed to jam up some way at the front and it was
like driving a wheelbarrow for a couple of miles!”
In the National Rally Brian Brogan with Damien McGettigan co-driving,
has unofficially got the edge on Phil Collins/Derek Brannigan with Rodney
Wilton/Conor McMahon next up (all in Escorts). It is all very close
in the Nationals and there is still a question mark over stage 2, but
Seamus Hegarty, Michael McColgan, Damien Gallagher and Wesley Patterson
are all right in the race as is Tom Holton in his Celica.
Finally for now – it is fabulous for all of us to see the Citroen
team here in Donegal and we had a lovely comment today from Marie-Pierre
Rossi the Citroen Media Relations lady who said “My father rallied
and I grew up in rallying, went to my first event as a baby in my push
chair, it is lovely to be here in Donegal where there is such a passion
for rallying.”
More news in the morning: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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