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RALLY NEWS NO.12
Gleneagle Hotel Finish/Sunday 7pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 17 – FINAL STAGE
1st (7) Kris Meeke/Jonas Andersson (Impreza WRC) 2.19.25.1
2nd (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 2.19.37.9
3rd (5) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 2.20.02.8
4th (2) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 2.22.12.9
5th (8) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 2.26.03.6
6th (1) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 2.27.40.9
7th (10) Gareth Jones/Greg Shinnors (Focus WRC) 2.28.11.2
8th (24) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Impreza N) 2.32.17.2
9th (18) JJ Fleming/Robbie Ward (Focus WRC) 2.33.27.2
10th (34) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Lancer N) 2.35.11.9
11th (30) James Cullen/Allan Harryman (Lancer N) 2,36.25.0
12th (89) Martin Browne/John Kilmurray (Lancer N) 2.36.50.1
For Kris Meeke and his Swedish co driver Jonas Andersson this has been
a sensational rally, a tremendous results. It has been obvious for
years that Kris Meeke is a special rally talent and he really showed it
here on his first visit to this Killarney Rally of the Lakes. It
was only last Monday that the deal to drive the car was finalised, and
remarkably it was only on Monday evening that Andersson was asked by Kris
to co-drive. His first reaction was no, that he had never read pace
notes in English. Kris said here outside the Gleneagle Hotel “I
had complete faith in him and he was brilliant. This result is right
up there with winning the Junior category on the Monte Carlo Rally. So
many people have backed us this weekend with sponsorship, some of them
I don’t even know and the only result I could give them was a victory.
There was a 25 minute wait before the final stage, I was on intermediate
tyres, Eugene was on slicks, the roads dried and I knew I was up against
it. Normally under those circumstances Eugene would have been a
second a mile faster and I had only 12s in hand for the 20k stage. I drove
out of my skin, harder than I’ve ever gone. To win was awesome,
especially after everyone bent over backwards to help me”.
The icing on the cake for Kris is that he has won the Bertie Fisher Memorial
Trophy for the fastest time over the Molls Gap stage. There was a certain
moistness in Rory Kennedy’s eyes when he came into the finish. Rory,
who was with Bertie Fisher through so many of his Lakes victories, co
drove Mark Higgins to fastest over Molls Gap this morning, but of course
in the rain they were never going to match Meeke’s magic time on
Saturday morning in setting a new record.
Eugene Donnelly was 2nd overall, Eugene and his co driver Paul Kiely suffering
a little with a flu bug today. Eugene said however that he got some
medication this afternoon and he felt a bit better. He commented
then. “It was some race, some rally. Its congratulations to Kris
Meeke, great to see him getting the result and fair play to Andreas Mikkelsen
on a brilliant drive”. For this part 3rd placed Andreas said
at the end. “I was 1s down on Eugene on the stage before the end
and knew then I couldn’t catch him as he was having a big race with
Kris so I relaxed for the last stage.” Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy’s
4th place in the Pirelli backed Subaru reinforces their position at the
front of the Tarmac Championship. Mark said he had a fraught rally, even
the last stage having dramas when he thought the engine was going to blow
before the realised that he forgot to switch some of the electronics on,
and the car was on road mode.
Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey were 8th overall and won group N in their Impreza
with Kevin O’Donoghue 2nd and James Cullen 3rd in the category.
Kevin O’Donoghue and his co driver Joe O’Leary win the John
Millane Trophy for best placed Kerry crew.
Patrick Elliott crashed out of the rally on the Caragh Lake stage when
lying 6th o/a and Willie Fannin also crashed on that stage when well placed
in gpN. Aaron MacHale’s Focus WRC stopped on the final stage
with fly by wire throttle trouble and he’s making his way slowly
to the finish, but will have lost a top 10 place. James M Stafford has
won the National Rally after a trouble free run in his Darrian.
Many thanks to all who helped and supported the Rally News service and
congratulations to all the organisers of this huge Bank Holiday weekend
rally. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
