RallyNews No.5 Service In / Sunday 4.45pm

Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage Six

1st (2) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 54.13
2nd (1) Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy (Focus WRC) 54.21
3rd (3) Michael Barrable/Dermot O’Gorman (Focus WRC) 54.34
4th (4) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 54.46
5th (6) Niall Maguire/Paul McLoughlin (Impreza WRC) 54.57
6th (10) Kevin Barrett/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 56.11
= (12) Sean Gallagher/Claire Gallagher (Impreza S8) 56.11
8th (15) Seamus Leonard/John McCafferty (Lancer N) 56.14
9th (14) Michael Curran/Fabian McShane (Lancer N) 56.54
10th (18) Kevin Kelleher/Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 57.03
11th (17) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Impreza N) 57.51
12th (20) Rodney Wilton/Conor McMahon (Escort Mk2) 57.55

Patrick Elliott has moved into a 8 second lead after stages five and six and as predicated it has the heavy hail showers that made the difference in stage five. Interestingly it was a very astute Niall Maguire who blitzed the fifth stage with a stunning fastest time 11 seconds faster than Glenn Allen. Maguire switched his tyres around to have 2 intermediates on the front and 2 slicks on the back giving him a considerable advantage and drawing on his previous experience that has of course netted him multiple Dunlop titles. Aaron MacHale was the biggest looser over stage five when he dropped a whooping 28 seconds to Maguire but crucially he dropped eleven seconds to Elliott and the rally lead. Aaron explained that they had a hard slick with a few small cuts and it was just not enough to disperse the standing water, the Focus all over the road. Aaron reckons the final loop of stages will be all about tyres and when asked if he was going to go for it he responded with “I wouldn’t be a MacHale if I didn’t”. Rally leader Patrick Elliott is a picture of calm and seems to have everything very much under control, Patrick reckoning that he could go a bit quicker on the first two stages of the loop but feels that the final stage has little left in it.

Glenn Allen was a bit down in the dumps as the misfire has returned to his Corolla and he can see Michael Barrable pulling away. Niall Maguire has also developed an intermittent misfire in his Impreza and despite his fastest time on SS5 he thinks they lost quite a bit in SS6. Sean Devine has retired his Impreza WRC with power steering failure after a strong run saw him hold fifth place for most of the day. Kevin Barrett has had his stage time adjusted for stage three after the Redmond incident and he is a strong sixth and locked in a fierce battle with Sean Gallagher.

Seamus Leonard had a good run over those loop of stages while Michael Curran described his drive as steady. Willie Fannin was fastest GpN car on stage six but his earlier puncture is now costing him dearly. Rodney Wilton is still going impressively well to lead the 2wd while Gary McPhillips is just off the leaderboard on a total of 58.23, Eugene Ferry dropped back a bit with numerous spins and overshoots in his Mk2. More News Later Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd.

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