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RALLY NEWS NO.7
Galway Parc Ferme/Saturday 6pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 8 (End of Leg 1)
1st (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.08.06.6
2nd (1) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Focus WRC) 1.08.12.0
3rd (2) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 1.09.44.4
4th (4) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC) 1.10.01.3
5th (8) Kevin Lynch/Gordon Noble (Focus WRC) 1.10.15.2
6th (3) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 1.10.21.8
7th (14) Stephen Murphy/MJ Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.10.26.4
8th (16) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 1.11.14.1
9th (12) Ray Breen/Damien Morrissey (Focus WRC) 1.11.33.0
10th (11) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 1.11.37.0
11th (9) Gareth Jones/David Moynihan (Focus WRC) 1.11.45.8
12th (6) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.12.08.3
Marcus Gronholm was fastest through the final stage of the day as
he tried to make up time for his delay in stage 7 when his Focus
WRC sustained a puncture. The former World Rally Champion was in
good spirits as he put the car into parc ferme and said. “A
little bit of everything today, I touched the stone and got the
puncture.” When queried on just how hard he was trying
Marcus said. “I have made some mistakes but still trying to
do fast times. He is doing well this Donnelly!” As for
Eugene, he commented. “This new car is some yoke compared
to the other one, the things you can do are amazing but we are still
learning it. I had a wee issue with the launch procedure.
I think subconsciously I was trying to save the car and maybe lifting
my foot a tiny fraction and semi stalling. But I think we
have it cracked now, the last 3 stages were fine. I still feel the
car is set up a wee bit soft for me but overall its fantastic”.
Gareth MacHale in 3rd said. “We’re happy enough now,
we dropped over a minute earlier on and I don’t think we can
make that back but its going well now and we’re getting accustomed
to the new car and the left hand drive”.
In direct contrast Mark Higgins is still totally frustrated with
his run today and said. “Never felt anything as bad at times,
no grip, totally sideways in 5th gear, not good”. Eamonn
Boland remarked that he had a good day apart from one stage where
he made a few mistakes, left his braking a bit late and had an overshoot.
Kevin Lynch in 5th told us. “I’m confused, the car is
set up completely different to anything I’ve been used to,
its just not my way but we’re getting sorted, the turn in
is different we’ve got by without any panel damage. I haven’t
driven on these tyres either, I’m hanging in there”.
Stephen Murphy recovered from his stage 7 spin and set a good time
through 8 and held on to 7th place with Michael Barrable in 8th.
Ray Breen dropped a place when his Focus gave power steering problems
on the final stage.
Patrick Elliott rounds off the top 10 with Gareth Jones 11th and
Austin MacHale 12th. Austin had been up into 4th for a while until
a puncture and a broken brake pipe spoiled his run. He told
us he also had some 5th gear trouble over the last 2 stages today
and the mechanics will change the gear cluster in the morning. He
went on to say that this is the car that Gareth drove on the Monte
and it has always been a good fast car even though there is a lot
of mileage on the engine.
In Group N James Foley just got ahead of Roy White over the last
couple of stages. James changed on to a softer compound tyre while
Roy seemed to lose just that fraction of his bite at the end saying
he fell asleep a little on the last stage. Garry Jennings said his
Lancer needs a new turbo and there is a long road run in the morning
with lots of time due to the cancelled stage, so they will fit it
then. The boost was down to .8 on the last stage and the car
would hardly pull 4th gear. Kevin Kelleher is 4th group N,
Kevin O’Donoghue 5th and Damien Toorish 6th, all in Lancers.
Trevor Cathers has speeded up and is into 7th, 21st overall just
ahead of Colm Murphy.
More news in the morning. BRIAN & LIZ
PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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