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UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 12 LOUGH DHOO Virtually all the top drivers tackled the most recent loop of stages, Little London, St Judes and Lough Dhoo, on the wrong tyres. Most were on a cut slick dry weather tyre and it rained most of the way through the 3 stages. Eugene Donnelly has a 3 minute lead now at the front of the rally so wasn’t pushing, Andreas Mikkelsen set fastest times on all 3 stages. In the fight for Tesco 99 British Championship honours Guy Wilks had some problem with his car and Gwyndaf Evans has closed right up while Mark Higgins’ Subaru went off the road on the Little London test, and although there is reportedly little damage Mark and his co driver Rory Kennedy couldn’t get their Impreza back on to the road and went over maximum lateness. There have been quite a few retirements over the last few stages as well as Mark Higgins. Alan McMahon’s Honda Civic went out when the gearbox casing cracked up. Shaun Reid of Reid Motorsport pulled out when his gearbox went on the Round Table and local driver Paul Curphey stopped with mechanical problems on his Lancer. Paul had been into the top 10 on Leg 1 but lost time earlier today when he did a wall of death act on a very slippy corner on the Round Table stage. Interestingly Paul Kiely drove Donnelly’s Subaru back from the Lough Dhoo stage to the Grandstand to give Eugene a bit of a rest so Eugene was in relaxed form when he got out of the car and told us. “We were on a hard slick tyre, the rain was pouring down so we didn’t push too hard. There was a bit of heat came into the tyres on the last stage (Lough Dhoo) and we pushed on a bit but not too hard. I’m still struggling with the left foot braking, making a tit of myself at the hairpins!” Following that profound statement Eugene went on to enquire about Mark Higgins and how Mark’s retirement affects the positions at the top of the Tarmac Championship. If Eugene finishes first he should have a 5 point advantage and they will both have a dropped score, but then it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that Mark could rejoin the rally under Super Rally rules and perhaps pick up a few points. Andreas Mikkelsen commented when he came into service “The car is perfect, but it was very slippery, we were on a medium slick which was completely wrong and drove quick but did not push hard”. Second placed Eamonn Boland was another caught on slick tyres and had a few moments. Guy Wilks in 3rd place o/a said that he has a few issues with the car which he hopes to sort out at service, but wouldn’t be specific. Gwyndaf Evans was more than pleased to be “not far away” despite being on slick tyres in the rain. David Higgins set good times through the rain and told us “We’ve locked the front diff which has stopped the car wandering about and we picked an intermediate tyre for that loop because we thought they would heat up better. Then of course the weather changed and it started to rain and by sheer accident it suited us which was a bit of luck for us”. PJ McDermott dropped from 6th to 13th because of a 4 minutes puncture in stage 12, the Donegal man saying “Wrong tyres in the rain and she slid clean sideways into a kerb”. Young Darren Gass also had a puncture on his Citron and dropped several minutes, he’s back to 14th o/a. Conrad Rautenbach also in a Citroen had a good run in the rain, which shouldn’t really be the way in a 2 wheel drive car, but he did and he’s in a very solid 9th o/a. James Cullen reckons the suspension struts in his Lancer are just worn out but he has stiffened them as much as he can, raised the ride height and his times are pretty good compared to earlier. James up to 8th overall. Connor McCloskey is also going better, a lot happier with the set up of his new Lancer. Adrian McElhinney has been having gear selection in his little silver Peugeot and now has no 2nd or 4th gear. Wyn Humphreys felt that he backed off a lot over the last few stages but he’s still 11th, just 53s behind Humphreys. Martin McCormack/Liam Moynihan have retired from the Historic Rally their Escort having unexpectedly blown the engine with no warning. More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
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