RALLY NEWS NO.11 Ballinasloe Service/Sunday 3.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 14 Ballyfa
1st (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.40.47.9
2nd (1) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Focus WRC) 1.40.49.0
3rd (2) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 1.43.09.3
4th (4) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 1.44.01.5
5th (3) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 1.43.59.9
6th (8) Kevin Lynch/Gordon Noble (Focus WRC) 1.44.26.4
7th (14) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.45.13.2
8th (11) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 1.46.06.8
9th (12) Ray Breen/Damien Morrissey (Focus WRC) 1.46.06.9
10th (16) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 1.46.07.9
11th (6) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.46.29.0
12th (9) Gareth Jones/David Moynihan (Focus WRC) 1.47.25.0
NEWS COMING IN. (4.00)..Eugene Donnelly's Subaru is reportedly stuck in a ditch and it doesn't look as if he is going to get out. Marcus Gronholm's Focus has been off the road but got going.

On the last RallyNews we talked about Marcus Gronholm asking his M-Sport engineers to raise the ride height and soften the anti roll bars on his Focus WRC. It certainly seems to have had some effect as Marcus was almost 8s faster than Eugene Donnelly through that stage 14, Ballyfa. These things are rarely totally clear cut of course, Eugene was nervous and hesitant at stage start and made the mistake of lifting his accelerator foot just a fraction so that the Subaru almost stalled. Certainly co driver Paul Kiely thinks they lost 3 or 4 seconds with the hesitation. Then Eugene got a bit flustered and ragged which is never the quickest way in a rally car.

At stage finish Gronholm remarked that the Focus felt totally different in that stage and although he was fastest he wasn’t entirely comfortable. M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson was also at the stage finish and went into deep discussion with Marcus about set up and strategy. We do not know exactly what was said, but there would appear to be a debate about the merits of testing or winning! At the moment Marcus seems to want to win…..

Gareth MacHale was pleased with his run, said it was great but at the same time once again he was just that few seconds down on the leading pair. Eamonn Boland reported no problems while Kevin Lynch was just a couple of seconds off the pace and was saying little at stage finish. Mark Higgins was 4th fastest and said he felt he had picked too soft a compound tyre. Mark is still frustrated at the car’s wayward handling. The reason for this remains a mystery. Certainly Mark has tried just about every tyre that Pirelli produce to no avail. He knew that his last choice could possibly be too soft a compound and so it proved. Stephen Murphy remains firmly in 7th place while behind there is a great race between Michael Barrable, Ray Breen and Patrick Elliott, just seconds separating them. Austin MacHale is still going hard and could possibly overhaul Barrable for 10th place even with only 2 stages remaining. Gareth Jones seems to be down in the dumps about lying back in 12th place, but he just doesn’t seem to have come to grips with the new Reid Motorsport Focus.

In Group N James Foley still has a very solid lead with Kevin O’Donoghue 2nd despite a major spin. Kevin Kelleher is 3rd, Damien Tourish 4th and Colm Murphy having a ball in 5th.

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