UNOFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 3 Legane
1st (1) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Fabia S2000) 26.39.0
2nd (3) Juho Hanninen/Mikko Markkula (Fabia S2000) 26.41.8
3rd (2) Jan Kopecky/Pavel Dresler (Fabia S2000) 27.07.2
4th (4) Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (207 S2000) 27.18.4***
5th (9) Mathieu Arzeno/Renoul Jamoul (207 S2000) 27.22.3
6th (5) Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Fiesta S2000) 27.26.8
***Craig Breen may have 1m30s road penalty that will drop him down the order.
UNOFFICIAL NATIONAL L/BOARD AFTER SS3
1st (103) Darren Gass/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 27.29.0
2nd (102) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Corolla WRC) 27.51.0
3rd (101) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Mini WRC) 28.22.1
4th (104) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 28.24.4
5th (109) Frank Kelly/Stephen Quinn (Escort) 29.07.7
6th (107) Steve Perez/Paul Spooner (Focus WRC) 29.09.9
Through the 25.16km Legane stage Juho Hanninen was fastest by just under 3s from Andreas Mikkelsen. Jan Kopecky, Alastair Fisher and Mathieu Arzeno tied for 3rd. Mikkelsen still leads overall and commented here at service. “The stage dried out towards the end and the tyres were starting to go off”. Hanninen reported no problems while Kopecky is still trying to find his confidence on the Armagh roads. Craig Breen was very unfortunate in that his 207 S2000 lost fuel pressure on the way from stage 3 to service and it looks as if he will have lost the equivalent of 90s stage time. Hopefully his Peugeot will be restored to full health for stage 4. Robert Barrable was lying 7th after SS3 and his co driver Damien Connolly said. “It felt as if we had a great run through the stage but it didn’t show in the times. Maybe the tyres lost their edge”.
Alastair Fisher took a wee bit of time to settle in and his co driver Rory Kennedy reckoned that it didn’t click in stage 2 but went well in stage 3. Marty McCormack is the best 2 wheel drive car so far in his Citroen but said the grip is very inconsistent and he is being careful. Sam Moffett moved into the group N lead and 8th o/a after stage 3. His young brother Josh was ahead but his Lancer went through a fence into a field and someone opened the gate for them and they didn’t lose too much time. Mark Donnelly was also in a field for 40s and then he caught a Megane with several miles to go to the end of the stage. Martin Donnelly’s Lancer was slowed when the gear linkage broke. Geoff McMahon was another to put his Lancer into a field and he spent a bit of time checking out the heifers before he found a gate back to the road.
In the National Rally Darren Gass is flying through his home stages. Eugene Donnelly reckons the set up on his Corolla is too soft and is costing time. Derek McGarrity lost the brakes in his Mini WRC near the end of stage 3 and lost some time. Kenny McKinstry felt he was losing chunks of times as he was on the wrong tyres. Frank Kelly is doing an amazing job to hold 5th o/a in his Mk2 Escort. Steve Perez in his Focus WRC is increasing his pace as he tunes in once again to the Irish roads.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ & MICHAEL PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
Follow RallyNews on Twitter @Pacenotes
