RALLY NEWS NO.4 Service/Tralee/Sunday 1.30

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 DESMOND’S GRAVE
1st (1) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 37.41
2nd (5) Niall Maguire/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza WRC) 37.47
3RD (3) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 38.05
4TH (9) Seamus Leonard/John McCafferty (Impreza WRC) 38.08
5TH (8) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC0 38.12
6th (4) Donie O'Sullivan/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 38.13
7th (6) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 38.25
8th (7) Noel Redmond/Diarmuid Falvey (Impreza WRC) 38.41
9th (11) Jack Sleator/Andrew Purcell (Impreza WRC) 39.18
10th (12) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 39.29
11th (30) Maurice Moffett/Jason McKenna (Starlet) 40.08
12th (20) Willie Fannin/Paddy Robinson (Impreza N) 40.48

Michael Barrable had a 7s lead over Donie O’Sullivan leaving service after stage 2. On stage 3 O’Sullivan lost some time when his Impreza got stuck at a hairpin. This left Barrable with a fairly convincing lead, 25s over Patrick Elliott but then on stage 4 Barrable’s Focus suffered a puncture and knocked him back to 3rd place. O’Sullivan recounted about losing that time, his Subaru slid wide at junction 2, a tight hairpin, and slithered into the ditch. The spectators soon had him up and running but then he had no speed for the hairpin and all in all dropped around 40s. Donie also lost some time in stage 4 when he got caught behind Barrable’s struggling Focus. Michael remarked that his puncture happened at a fast right up at the windmills on Mt. Eagle, that he knew he had brushed a stone but felt that it was unlucky that the tyre punctured. Patrick Elliott’s Subaru engine seemed to perform much better on that loop, Patrick said that the engineers had made some adjustments to the ECU/fuel pressure at service. Niall Maguire got held up behind Barrable on that 2nd stage and he feels that it probably cost him 15s which could have made the difference between leading the rally and being 2nd. Glenn Allen seemed to go much better after service, his Corolla receiving some tweaks to the set up, although Glenn wasn’t quite so fast on stage 4 and said that the road had got quite muddy.

Kevin Barrett has set some really good tines this morning but then the edge went off his performance through stages 3 and 4 when a very bad vibration came into his Subaru under braking. Seamus Leonard spun his Subaru at the same corner that O’Sullivan had his moment. Seamus has only recently started to drive a Subaru world rally car and when the car stalled he forgot to switch off the anti lag. This cost more seconds to be lost. Sean Gallagher has retired his Subaru. Sean was feeling unwell anyway and we hear that the car may then have had an engine problem.

Alan Ring continues to lead group N and Eamonn Daly has come into 2nd GpN despite having some intercom problems. Willie Fannin is 3rd in the category, Willie still saying that his Impreza is set up too stiffly and he is not getting grip. Thomas Fitzmaurice and Anthony O’Halloran in their respective Lancers both lost time in stage 4 when they suffered punctures, cutting in too tight on a right hander.

Maurice Moffett is still the man to beat in the 2 wheel-drive category. Maurice’s Starlet is still going well despite his screaming clutch release bearing. John Kearney and Mike Quinn have retired their respective Escorts because of mechanical problems. Christy Carey, with Richard Talbot on the notes, has apparently crashed his recently acquired ex Kevin O’Donoghue Lancer. Tim Enright reported some mindless spectators throwing stones at the cars in stage 4. Danny McBride, winner of GpN in Mayo, is starting to come more on to the pace as he settles down with his new co-driver. Gavin Harris lost some time when he caught up with Anthony O’Halloran’s struggling Lancer. Ed Synan’s Escort was sidelined even before the start of the first stage because of an electrical problem, Ed hoping to OO later today. Willie Power/Liam Brennan retired at the start of SS2 when their Darrian’s alternator broke a pulley wheel.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net

© 2008www.rallynews.net (Patterson Agencies). All rights reserved. Unauthorised duplication is a violation of applicable laws.

Contact Us : RallyNews Archive : Links : 2007 Calendar : Irish Notes : Patterson Pacenotes