There’s a real ‘end of term’ feel to the entry list of this Fastnet Rally, with a wide array of cars and drivers, not just from the length and breadth of Ireland, but from as far afield as Germany as well. Welshman Melvyn Evans in his Subaru Impreza WRC leads the strong entry away from Skibbereen for the 7 classic but tough special stages. Melvyn, who has Sean Mullally co-driving, is in a state of the art Impreza WRC, and is trying new suspension here on the rally. The West Cork roads should certainly test those struts to the full! At 2 is Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy in their Corolla WRC. Cork crew Liam and Kieran are former winners of the rally in a Metro 6R4 and also in a 1600 Escort twenty years ago, and are in with a shout of winning the 023 Tiles Southern Four Championship, of which this is the last round. At 3 is former West Cork winner Bob Fowden. He has Charleville man Jerry Hynes on the pace notes. Bob is driving his Subaru, which is listed as a ‘WRC’, but co-driver Jerry explains, “That’s more Welsh Rally Car than World Rally Car!” Bob’s main pre-occupation before the start of the rally seemed to be more about getting his plane fixed, after he got caught in a big gust of wind and crashed it the other day!
At 4 is visiting German crew Aaron Burkart/Jom Limbach in their Citroen C2. Aaron, who was 2nd in the Junior World Championship this year, has certainly been in Ireland before, but has not rallied here. Aaron’s manager, the charismatic former works Audi and TTE man Jurgen Burtl, explained that Aaron may compete on Rally Ireland, although that is not absolutely certain, and this trip to Skibbereen is all about gaining experience of the Irish terrain.
At No.5 are Clonakilty brothers Kevin and Martin Kelleher in their ‘The Big Fella’ Mitsubishi Lancer. Kevin and Martin have won this year’s GpN Tarmac Title, and Kevin, with Martin Brady co-driving, won last weekend’s GSMC Baltinglass rally outright. This isn’t quite their local rally, but it is as good as, so they will be out to finish the year with a flourish, and no doubt the race between themselves and Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy for GpN supremacy could be fairly frenetic. Alan can also win the 023 Tiles c/ship and his Lancer has been tuned to the ultimate degree for this one.
Four times Tarmac Champion Eugene Donnelly, with Paddy Toner co-driving, is at 7. Eugene is driving one of the Excel Motorsport Super 1600 machines, and although Eugene has no experience of front wheel drive machinery, no doubt he will be giving it a real go here. The race for 1600 supremacy certainly could prove very interesting, as, as well the German crew of Burkart/Limbach, Donnelly will be up against another JWRC driver, Shaun Gallagher, as well as promising youngster Daragh O’Riordan in his Corsa. Eugene Meegan (Civic) and Tommy Doyle (Clio) are also in front wheel drive machinery, but they are running 2-litre, not 1600cc. Shaun Gallagher has travelled down from Letterkenny to compete here, and when quizzed as to why, he explained that there is one rally left in the engine before re-build time, so he may as well. But more than that he was dissatisfied with the way the car was handling on his home Donegal Harvest Rally a couple of weeks ago.
Eoin Doyle in his Impreza WRC and Sean Flanagan in his GpN Subaru (now with the roof repaired following his roll on the Donegal Harvest) round off the top ten. In many ways that top ten is really only the tip of the iceberg. There are stacks of good drivers and cars throughout the field, with lots of class battles promised. As well as that there is a separate Historic section, which counts towards the 023 Tiles Southern 4 Historic Championship. Jer Flynn is the top seed in his Escort. Diarmuid Lynch is 5th Historic and he had to work late on Friday night fitting a new piston to his Escort. There is also a Junior Rally, which joins in at stage four and then follows the main rally, Billy McCarthy being the top seed in his Micra.
Some changes to entry include Wesley Patterson (No12) non-starting, nor is Trevor Mulligan (14), Shay Power (19), and John Kehoe (20), whose Escort engine blew yesterday.
Finally for now, the word from the Pirelli Driver Shoot Out in Austria is that although he put up a great performance, was fastest on the tarmac stages although baulked by a Fiesta on the forest stages and was 5th Keith Cronin did not win the overall prizes which went to the Finnish and Czech Republic drivers. Still, Keith and co driver Greg did not let the side down, they gave it a real good go.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
