RALLY NEWS NO.8                                 Charterhall Service/Sunday 1.15

 

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 15 Swinton

1^st (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.46.21.9

2^nd (3) Tim McNulty/Diarmuid Falvey (Impreza WRC) 1.48.33.7

3^rd (2) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Focus WRC 1.48.50.6

4^th (6) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 1.51.44.9

5^th (14) Gareth Jones/James O'Brien (Focus WRC) 1.53.25.2

6^th (8) David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas (Corolla S2000R) 1.54.13.6

7^th (18) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Impreza N) 1.55.01.6

8^th (25) PJ McDermott/Sean Harris (Impreza WRC) 1.56.00.0

9^th (16) Phillip Morrow/Daniel Barritt (Lancer N) 1.56.33.1

10^th (22) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Lancer N) 1.58.38.2

 

Through the Blackadder stage Eugene Donnelly just stamped his authority all over this Jim Clark Rally with a time over 20s faster than his nearest rivals Tim McNulty and Eamonn Boland. In top line rallying terms, on an 11.54 mile stage that is an enormous difference.  Through the Swinton test Eugene was 12s up on McNulty 18 on Boland.  With just 3 stages to go it is going to take something fairly extraordinary to change the top of the leaderboard. 

 

Similarly Mark Higgins is very comfortably placed ahead of his nearest British Championship rival on the leaderboard, interestingly enough his brother David.  The reported reason for Gwyndaf Evans’ retirement on the Eccles stage is that a precautionary replacement gearbox failed.  What with Guy Wilks so far back and running under Super Rally rules, Mark Higgins is very much on his own and said. “We drove that like a fast recce, it’s the slowest I’ve ever driven, I’m just looking after the car now although you still have to be careful you can come across a real slippy bit”. 

 

Eugene Donnelly commented on his way into service. “The roads dried over the last few stages and we were on a wet tyre, so I took no chances, kept it clean and carried the speed through the corners. We did have 2 intermediate tyres in the boot and we got those fitted for the last stage which wasn’t too bad. Still we had a big moment on a 3 left, not a big problem but just reminds you that anything can happen”.  Tim McNulty is fighting hard to keep Eamonn Boland at bay in the race for 2^nd, Tim also said that his tyres were too soft for the last couple of stages. Tim is going to try a few wee tweaks for the last loop and also said that tyre choice is going to be a huge problem, looking at the clouds on the horizon. Gareth Jones had a decent run through stage 15 and he said as he looked at the tyres on his Focus. “All we need now is snow!” 

 

Colm Murphy continues to lead the Irish group N contenders and set a good time through stage 15 but is a wee bit worried about a noise that he can’t identify in the car. Phillip Morrow was on a time of 9.35 for stage 15 as against Murphy’s 9.11. Phillip saying “I’m not worried about Colm I’m 3^rd of the BRC GpN runners, I’m going to keep it steady and I’m thinking about the Pirelli Star Driver award, want to get to the finish”.  When queried on the oil smell at the end of stage 13 this morning Phillip retorted that it was a drive shaft had popped out and was leaking oil and he just popped it back in again.  Guy Wilks, running in Super Rally and up to 16^th after stage 14 followed up his slow time on stage 13 when the turbo pipe came off with good quick runs through Blackadder and Swinton, but still Guy said “I concentrated just on keeping it smooth, middle of the road, looking after the tyres”. 

 

Roy White has dropped out of the leaderboard having lost at least 3 minutes on both stages 14 and 15. Roy reckons he broke something in the transmission leaving the start line at Blackadder.  PJ McDermott has come back into the top 10 despite being a little slow in stage 13 when his car’s windscreen was misting up.  Killarney man Kevin O’Donoghue looked very relaxed coming into service, he is up into the top 10 now and in his own droll way said. “No point in getting too excited!”  Rob Swann was delayed by over 3 minutes with a puncture, his great rival Wyn Humphreys regretting that he can’t have a real go at him as he’s running a standard gearbox. Young Darren Gass still leads his class and is knocking on the door of the top 10 with his C2, Darren said that on the first stage this morning he regretted that he didn’t have more cuts in the tyres to let the water away, but then they worked very well on the drying roads of stages 14 and 15. Lorna Smith was another who struggled a little with wet weather tyres on the drying roads of Swinton but still leads her Suzuki team mate James Wozencroft by 1m23s and leads cl.6.  

 

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

 

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