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RALLY NEWS NO.8
Killarney Parc Ferme/Saturday 6.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 (end of leg 1)
1st (7) Kris Meeke/Jonas Andersson (Impreza WRC) 1.05.54.9
2nd (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.06.19.6
3rd (5) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 1.06.27.1
4TH (3) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 1.07.10.6
5TH (9) Kevin Lynch/David Moynihan (Focus WRC) 1.07.11.9
6TH (1) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 1.07.13.9
7TH (2) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 1.07.57.2
8TH (14) Stephen Murphy/M J Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.08.27.7
9TH (15) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 1.09.17.0
10TH (8) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.09.27.7
Kris Meeke and his Swedish co driver Jonas Andersson turned in a
stunning time on the final stage, Ballydaly, to open up an almost 25s
lead on Eugene Donnelly in preparation for the start of day 2 on this
Killarney Rally of the Lakes. Eugene had a spin in that stage 9
while Meeke had a clear run and he said here at parc ferme. “It’s
a new rally tomorrow and I may need that 25s up against Eugene, especially
it its wet, I’ve never really driven a world rally car in wet conditions.
I really went for it on that last stage, there was nothing left and it
was a proper driving stage”. Eugene Donnelly said. “We
were having a deadly run up until we had an overshoot and a spin, about
halfway through, it was a 6 right into a sudden turn square left, I booted
it on the 6 right, completely overshot the turn, nearly ended up in Kilkenny!”
Andreas Mikkelsen was late arriving into parc ferme, his Focus having
got caught up in a traffic incident in Killarney and hopefully there will
be no road penalties. Andreas commented about his superb run today. “Everything
is fine, we found a good rythym although we took it a little easier on
that last stage, it was a repeat of stage 2 but going the opposite way
and I didn’t want an accident like this morning”. Interestingly
Kris Meeke’s time for that stage 9 was 10m35.8s. Andreas Mikkelsen
did 10.39. Mark Higgins 10.48.
Further stories from parc ferme included Gareth MacHale admitting that
he gambled wrongly on having wet weather type tyres for the final stage
and the rain didn’t come. Tim McNulty had a huge spin, went
right up an escape road at a square left and didn’t hit anything.
Mark Higgins had a good run, said his Pirelli Subaru his handling well
now and would like to thank Reid Motorsport who saved his day by lending
him a suspension unit for the front corner. Austin MacHale got his gearbox
sorted for the last stage. Kevin Lynch said of that stage 9 “It
wasn’t that good for us, but we came out at the end of it, and that’s
the important bit!”
In Group N Colm Murphy still leads by 16s from James Cullen with Willie
Fannin up to 3rd and it’s a close run thing between Kevin O’Donoghue
and Kevin Kelleher. Alan Ring has dropped several minutes, firstly with
a misfire and then a possible broken front drive shaft on the Munster
Joinery GpN Impreza.
Further stories include – Aaron MacHale now having his turbo problems
sorted and lying just outside the leaderboard and cant’ believe
the pace on the rally as compared to his usual national events. Paddy
White had a real baptism of fire today, competing for the first time in
an ex Matthew Wilson Focus WRC and hadn’t driven the car until Molls
Gap! Brian O’Mahony lost his cl.6 lead when his Clio suffered
a puncture, Brian stopped in the stage to change the wheel and then a
spectator knocked the Renault accident off the jack. Ken O’Neill
is believed to be leading the class in his Puma. Jonathan Patterson &
Jeremy Taylor are on their first Rally of the Lakes, driving a hired Raymond
Mason Lancer, they’ve had a ball of a day, still going well, can’t
believe the fabulous stages, and apart from clipping a rock on Molls this
morning, have had a clear run. Martin Brown/John Kilmurray are now
setting top 5 group N times in the Esker backed Lancer Evo9. Recap
on National Rally after stage 6 – James M Stafford led in his Darrian
from Fergus O’Meara, Philip Cross & Wesley Patterson in their
Escorts. More news in the norning. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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