RALLY NEWS NO.3                         Service/Athenry/Saturday 11.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 2 Shanaglish

1st (5) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 12.06.8
2nd (6) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 12.13.6
3rd (4) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 12.25.5
4th (16) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Lancer N) 12.28.7
5th (7) Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy (Focus WRC) 12.30.7
6th (15) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 12.40.3
7th (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 12.46.1
8th (12) PJ McDermott/Sean Harris (Impreza WRC) 12.49.2

We reported on the earlier Rally News about slippy conditions through the Ballybuck stage.  On stage 2 Shanaglish the ice had just about melted before the first car tackled the test.  Stage 3, Black Road, is unfortunately a white wilderness with snow and ice for most of the way and the organisers have decided not to run that test. 

Eamonn Boland, who is running on Pirelli tyres this weekend, was fastest through the 2nd stage to close the gap on Tim McNulty.  Tim commented after the stage. “We were nice and steady but I was watching it, it was very tricky.  We had ice marked in a couple of places and it had melted.  But the ice note crew, Dougie Redpath and Andy, have done a good job”.  Andreas Mikkelsen in 3rd place was playing his cards pretty close to his chest but the 18 year old Norwegian did say “There was much better grip than I thought in places but we took a very big jump very fast and I must get the car checked”. 

Colm Murphy has stunned everyone with his speed this morning, Colm now 4th overall, leading group N and leading Evo Challenge. He said. “There was ice marked on the notes in stage 2 which had melted but I was still being cautious, I would have looked a right fool if I’d gone off.  The car is fantastic, seems a lot more power than the other one.  This is my first drive in it, it turns in very well and handles great”. 

Aaron MacHale in 5th had his tyres all set for the icy and snowy 3rd stage, they hadn’t worked well on stage 2 because the ice had melted.  Mark Higgins is trying to recover from his earlier puncture. Mark’s total now 13.05.7.  He told us that the puncture happened on a straight section, he just couldn’t see through the misted screen and was trying to lean over to the middle of the car but touched a rock at the side of the road.  Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly told us. “I didn’t push too hard in there and of course there was no ice but I didn’t want to do anything stupid. The weather is playing havoc with the car, its running too cold, I ran over some of the debris from Gareth MacHale’s accident and the cowl on the intercooler has got damaged. It is letting too much air in and the on board computer is giving a warning about too cold.  Otherwise OK, the car is handling very well and I really like it”. 

Gareth MacHale has told us that his accident happened on a 4th gear right hander the the Focus just slithered wide and clipped a bank.  Sean Flanagan has retired his GpN Impreza, his co driver Brian Duggan told us that their new engine developed a problem. The reason for Darragh Rafferty not starting the rally was an engine problem with his car.  David Roe has retired his Mk2 Escort having overshot the finish of the first stage where it had been shortened. PJ McDermott has had a good run so far although he lost a couple of seconds behind Murphy’s struggling Impreza on stage 1.  It transpired that Murphy’s problem was a loose hose on the turbo, not power steering as we first thought. Kevin Barrett reckoned he was too cautious on stage 2 otherwise OK. 

Niall Maguire has gone very well this morning in his recently acquired Impreza S11 but has a small problem with the brakes. Seamus Leonard has lost a lot of time, the throttle linkage on his Impreza broken.  Owen Murphy has lost time with bent steering. Mike Bird also has lost time having bent a rim.  Martin Rowe has no confidence in his new car and is struggling for grip.  Kevin Kelleher had a small spin in his Lancer in stage 1.  Manus Kelly, Brian Brogan and Martin McGee are just separated by seconds in the battle for best National.

More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

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