Juho Hanninen scored another fastest time in stage 4, just over 3s faster than Andreas Mikkelsen that puts Hanninen into a slender lead. Mikkelsen was very tight-lipped at stage finish and sped his Skoda off into the night with no comment. Hanninen remarked that the stage was very slippy in the middle and he was on the same tyres as earlier and quite happy. Kopecky was much more on the pace on that stage. Alastair Fisher had a really good run, his confidence was up and his Fiesta suspension was working much better following a few tweaks. Craig Breen was a few seconds down on Alastair and was somewhat down in the dumps having lost the time earlier because of road penalties. Robert Barrable reported that it had started to rain when he was halfway through the stage and it got really slippy, but the Dubliner still had a decent time.
Garry Jennings was on a more suitable tyre for that stage and he has certainly speeded up to move into the GpN lead. Sam Moffett was having to switch the anti lag device on and off to keep the temperature of his Lancer’s engine down, so he did well to hold 2nd GpN place. Martin Donnelly was a couple of seconds faster than Moffett but slower than Kelly to hold 3rd GpN. Danny Barry had a miserable stage, he said his Lancer is undriveable. Marty McCormack had a bad stage, his Citroen drifting wide on a long left hander, the car clipped a wall and damaged the rear axle. He is still going but at reduced pace.
Eugene Donnelly made a few tweaks to his Corolla’s suspension after stage 3 and it has certainly paid off as he set quickest time in stage 4 b over 14s from Darren Gass with Derek McGarrity a further 14s back.
Stage 5, the 2nd run over Legane, has been cancelled because the rally is running late and the road closing order would expire before all the cars got through.
More news in the morning: BRIAN & LIZ & MICHAEL PATTERSON www.rallynews.net Follow Twitter @Pacenotes or Facebook @Real_RallyNews
