| RALLY
NEWS NO.10
Killorglin Service/Sunday 11am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 11 Ballaghbeama
1st (7) Kris Meeke/Jonas Andersson (Impreza WRC) 1.24.32.4
2nd (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.25.02.6
3rd (5) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 1.25.05.1
4th (1) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 1.25.47.6
5th (3) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 1.26.10.9
6th (2) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 1.26.31.2
7th (14) Stephen Murphy/M J Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.27.58.6
8th (15) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 1.28.36.9
9th (8) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.28.38.5
10th (17) Aaron MacHale/Derek Brannigan (Focus WRC) 1.29.38.5
11th (10) Gareth Jones/Greg Shinnors (Focus WRC) 1.30.26.9
12th (12) Melvyn Evans/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 1.31.47.5
The second Sunday stage, Ballaghbeama, wasn’t quite as wet as Molls
Gap but still damp and rally leader Kris Meeke said. “Yes, damp
but still abrasive, didn’t want to chance anything, stuck to the
middle of the road, the guys have to catch me now!” Fastest
through the stage was 17 year old Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen, his Focus
WRC stopping the clock on 9.13.3. Kris Meeke did 9.16.9. Eugene Donnelly
9.18.2. Mikkelsen simply said. “It went well, no problems,
I am happy”. Donnelly on the other hand had the head down
a bit, the Tarmac Champion saying. “Not feeling great at all, its
like the flu or something. I feel absolutely zapped. Paul’s the
same, he’s not well, he was in bed at 9 o’clock last night”.
Gareth MacHale in 4th seems to have got a new lease of life today, he’s
almost like a different driver from yesterday, and when asked what had
made the change the young Dubliner had no real answer, but did say. “OK,
we’re pushing on today, and the conditions are different, it was
maybe down to lack of seat time, although I did have a test in the car
on Friday.” Interestingly, Gareth was almost 20s faster than
his father Austin over Ballaghbeama. Austin has always rated that
daunting road over the top of Ballaghbeama as one of the best in the world.
This time he good humouredly commented. “We went well at the start,
but half way over I felt my head was dropping off, I was wrecked, time
to give it up!” Aaron MacHale had a good run over Ballaghbeama
as well and he beat his Dad by 6s!!
On our last RallyNews we reported on Kevin Lynch’s Focus having
a puncture and damaged brake pipe on Molls Gap. It would appear
that Kevin has called it a day, there was no sign of him here at service.
Mark Higgins said after setting his fastest time on Molls Gap and then
being a few seconds off quickest on Ballaghbeama, “I was being quite
careful, caught a wee bit off guard at the start, but it was certainly
nice to be quickest on the Gap this morning”. Tim McNulty
reported. “We had a spin in Ballaghbeama, wedged the Subaru between
two dykes, cost a bit of time alright”. Stephen Murphy, a
solid 7th o/a, felt a vibration from the front brake discs of his Focus
on Molls, otherwise OK. Melvyn Evans admni9tted he is well off the
pace, just doesn’t know the reason but certainly his Subaru isn’t
revving out the way it should. Gareth Jones seems to be going OK and had
a decent time through Ballaghbeama.
Colm Murphy continues to lead Group N, his closest overnight rival James
Cullen still running but showing road penalties as a result of his Lancer
engine cutting out between overnight parc ferme and the start of Molls
Gap. Colm Murphy commented. “It has taken the pressure off me but
I’ve still to keep it going, get to the finish, mind my car, but
I’m still having fun!” Second in group N is currently
Willie Fannin with Kevin O’Donoghue 3rd and Kevin Kelleher 4th.
Alan Ring is 5th and running a full tank of petrol in his Impreza to try
and reduce his fuel surge problems. Roy White withdrew his Lancer following
his electrical problems yesterday. Jonathan Patterson/Jeremy Taylor dropped
5m on the Gap when they clipped a rock. At least he’s still going,
his brother Chris & Nasser Al-Attiyah have retired from Argentina
with mechanical problems. In the national rally James M Stafford still
leads from Fergus O’Meara with Wesley Patterson now showing as 3rd,
but that’s from the first few cars only. In Argentina o/night results
show Loeb still leading from Gronholm with Solberg 3rd, Hirvonen 4th,
Sordo 5th and Latvala 6th. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
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