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| Circuit of Kerry |
| RALLY NEWS No.2 - End of SS1 - Sunday @ 10:44:56 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.2 End of Stage 1/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 Headley’s Bridge
1st (1) Thomas Fitzmaurice/Fionn Foley (Impreza WRC) 9.20
2nd (3) Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 9.34
3rd (4) Brian O'Mahony/John Higgins (Impreza WRC) 9.35
4th (2) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 9.36
5th (10) Declan Boyle/Gary McNern (Escort) 9.43
6th (6) Roy White/James O'Brien (MG S2000) 9.46
7th (9) Frank Kelly/Liam Brennan (Escort) 9.50
8th (8) Mike Quinn/Grainne McEnery (Escort) 9.53
9th (131) Eugene Meegan/Brian Sharkey (Lancer N) 9.54
10th (7) Colm Murphy/Don Montgomery (Impreza N) 9.55
It was a morning made in heaven up in the Glanaruddery Mountains for the opening stage of this Kerry Rally. The only blot on the horizon was a big wind farm a couple of miles away on the skyline. There was no blot however on Thomas Fitzmaurice’s book as he scorched through that first test, Headley’s Bridge. Thomas, on his home patch here, was 14s faster than his closest pursuer Niall Maguire. When his Subaru came to a halt at the finish of the stage Fitzmaurice commented. “The car felt fine although it was bottoming out at the back end a little on the jumps. Mind you the chicanes were very tight, but all OK”. Kevin Barrett was the next car in behind Thomas and with sweat pouring out of every pore the Kerry born, but now Maynooth based man Kevin said. “I’m happy enough but the dust from Fitzmaurice’s car was abit of a problem. Niall Maguire was next in and when asked how his stage went the Monaghan man replied. “One hundred per cent”. Then when he saw Fitzmaurice’s time he said. “Well, maybe not that good, maybe I’m getting too old for this”.
Brian O’Mahony is at 4 in his Impreza and he reported a bit of an overshoot but otherwise OK. Brian, a former British Junior Champion, is getting used to a new type of tyre this weekend, but at least the dry weather will make his job a little easier. Roy White in the MG S2000 was another to talk of overshooting a junction and he also spoke of a noise from the front right suspension that could have been slightly distracting for him.
Colm Murphy is the highest seeded GpN car and his Impreza was showing wisps of smoke coming from the bonnet vent. Colm said everything was fine and his aim today is to “just bring the car home”. He also said the dry weather does not suit the car. Fastest GpN time so far is Eugene Meegan who reported his Evo 10 to be “flying”. Kevin Kelleher has reportedly had turbo charger problems with his Lancer. Shane Maguire was running behind Kevin in his GpN Impreza and Shane did lose a few seconds running in smoke from Kevin’s struggling Lancer. Shane’s time was 10.07. Josh Moffett in his GpN Lancer recorded 10.26 and he said he was still settling down following an accident recently.
In the Mark 2 Escort battle Declan Boyle was fastest through that first stage and despite an overshoot was "“happy enough”. Frank Kelly was 2nd of the Escorts and he reckoned that he was asleep through the first half of the stage then everything went well. Mike Quinn had an overshoot and had to reverse that cost him a few seconds. Some more Escort times: Tommy Mason did 10.21 and that was despite a lack of brakes. Charlie Hickey did 10.20. We hear that David Murphy’s Escort has stopped, possibly with an accident but that is unconfirmed.
RALLY PORTUGAL: After SS18 Hirvonen still leads from Ostberg, Novikov 3rd and Petter Solberg has got ahead of Al-Attiyah for 4th. The FIA Academy finished yesterday and Alastair Fisher was the winner.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
You can follow RallyNews on Twitter @ pacenotes
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