RallyNews No 1                                      End of Stage One Sunday 11.40am

 

Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage One

 

1^st (5) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 7.04

2^nd (1) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza S11) 7.08

=    (9) Dessie Keenan/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 7.08

4^th (6) Adrian McElvaney/Arthur Kierans (Impreza S8) 7.13

5^th (10) Michael Barrable/Dermot O’Gorman (Focus WRC) 7.16

6^th (7) Kevin Barrett/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 7.18

=    (3) Aaron MacHale/Derek Brannigan (Focus WRC) 7.18

8^th (8) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 7.20

9^th (2) Ray Breen/Damien Morrissey (Focus WRC) 7.21

10^th (4) Noel Redmond/Ger Healy (Impreza S12) 7.23

 

The overnight rain has left the opening stages of this Monaghan Rally in a very slippy state this morning and as Patrick Elliott blasted his way through the opening 12.16 kms Emy first stage, the Cavan man immediately reported some slippy places in the stage but reckoned he had not pushed so hard.  As Elliott awaited for second on the road Ray Breen, Elliott was surprised by how much faster he went while Breen reported a relatively trouble free run.  Glenn Allen was not surprised to have set fastest time on that first stage, Glenn telling us at the stage finish “I had a few moments, but pushed very hard, I set out to go hard this morning – that was a good run”.  Adrian McElvaney is out for the first time in a rally car since last September and the winner here for the past two years had some choice words at the finish “I scared the ***** out of myself in there, it is just so slippy” but on seeing his time McElvaney seemed quite happy.

 

The sensation of the opening stage has to be that off young local driver Dessie Keenan who is out for the very first time in a WRC machine.  Keenan punched his steering wheel in delight on seeing his joint second fastest stage time and told us that he really was just learning and had not pushed or taken any unnecessary risks .  Kevin Barrett had a good run in his Triton Impreza and has already started the now traditional battle with former Dunlop champion Niall Maguire and Michael Barrable, all these drivers having a few moments in the slippy conditions but otherwise drama free.

 

Drama free is certainly not the case with both Sean Devine and also Sean Gallagher.  Sean Devine completed the stage but dropped over a minute to the rally leaders as his Impreza WRC suffered a mysterious turbo/anti-lag problem, but Devine was going to try and struggle on.  Sean Gallagher lost over three minutes as his older Impreza WRC completed most of the stage stuck in fifth gear. 

 

Michael Curran looks as if he was fastest in GpN with a time off 7.30 despite catching and passing both Sean Gallagher and Sean Devine.  Willie Fannin was next up on 7.34 from Seamus Leonard 7.35 and Alan Ring 7.38.  More News Later Michael Patterson