RALLY NEWS NO.2 End of stage 1/Saturday 10.45 am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 FLOWERHILL
1st (1) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Focus WRC) 9.08.0
2nd (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 9.14.4
3rd (2) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 9.34.1
4th (4) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 9.36.2
5th (8) Kevin Lynch/Gordon Noble (Focus WRC) 9.37.3
6th (6) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 9.38.7
7th (12) Ray Breen/Damien Morrissey (Focus WRC) 9.42.1
8th (14) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 9.41.3
9th (7) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 9.42.4
10th (16) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 9.49.4

A crisp coating of frost covered the fields here around Portumna making it slightly daunting and slippy in places for the lead competitors. Marcus Gronholm got off on slightly the wrong foot when his Focus refused to fire up in parc ferme but once he got on to the stage the Finnish driver gave a very clear demonstration of why he is a 2 times World Champion. His time was so much faster than anyone else. When he got to the stage finish he took a few seconds to relate to the team boss Malcolm Wilson “On all the crests I am lifting, bop bop bop of the engine, but it is flat I think. The brakes are hot now!” The only driver to come close to Marcus’ time was Eugene Donnelly and as he brought his new Subaru to a halt he said. “I’m very surprised at the time, usually I make a slow start, and the back of the car seemed very soft, it was hard to trust the brakes as well. I had a couple of heart stopping moments”. Gareth MacHale was 3rd fastest. This was Gareth’s first run in the left hand drive 06 Focus and he said he was pumping the brakes a couple of times so that wouldn’t have helped his stage time.

British Rally Champion Mark Higgins arrived at stage finish with a front right punctured tyre. There was a chunk out of the rim which reinforced Mark’s comment “Hit a rock, couldn’t really miss it, about 5km from the end.” Mark’s time was 10.06.7 which leaves him with a lot to do to get on the pace of the leaders.

Further stories from that opening test included: Kevin Lynch saying “Too cautious, but at least I got her to the end of the stage”. Austin MacHale did well to record a 6th fastest time and he remarked on just how slippy it was. Gareth Jones, doing his first rally in the new Red Motorsport Focus said “Steady as she goes”. Michael Barrable caught and passed Jon Ingram’s Impreza in the stage, Jon seemingly struggling with a puncture. George Cullen was running very late, reason as yet unknown.

In Group N Roy White set fastest time, Roy’s Lancer stopping the clock on 9.52.5. Seamus Leonard was on 10.03.4. Colm Murphy 10.03.6. James Cullen 10.05.8. Roy White remarked before the start of the rally that the team had found some wee wiring problem with the centre diff which could have accounted for some of his problems last year. Colm Murphy was trying a new make of tyres and was just playing himself in. James Foley was on the phone to his suspension engineer just after the stage finish, he felt he was getting no grip and was wondering about the set up of new suspension which he had fitted. Garry Jennings was disappointed to be quite a few seconds off the pace and could not quite understand why.
Willie Fannin & Mick Courtney retired their GpN Impreza on the way out to the first stage. They reckoned a piston had broken which was pretty tough luck.

Some more times include: JJ Fleming 10.25.7: Patrick Elliott 9.54.0 as he beds into his new car. Tony Davies, suffering slightly from a cold, 10.17.2. Hugh M Doherty 10.29.7

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

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