Although it was dry at St. Angelo service when the cars departed early this morning it was pouring with rain by the time they got out to the opening Sloughan Glen stage. Nearly all the cars were on slick dry weather tyres that made the going difficult for the drivers. Fortunately there were no reports of any major accidents, although many competitors had scary moments. Brendan Cumiskey did damage his Subaru although he managed to keep going despite what was a fairly extensive accident.
Fastest through Sloughan Glen was Garry Jennings his Subaru stopping the clocks a full 17s quicker than Donagh Kelly in his Focus WRC. Third fastest was Jonny Greer in his Citroen DS3R5. Garry Jennings said at stage finish. `Yes, I was on slick tyres but I just drove it like I saw it`. Donagh Kelly told us. `I was super cautious but the car still got away from me at a downhill square right. I will be very surprised if a lot of drivers do not have reverse moments in there!` Desi Henry dropped a few seconds to Stephen Wright in that stage. Both Stephen and Desi were on the wrong tyres but Stephen shrugged his shoulders and said. `It is the same for everybody`. When Jonny Greer finished the stage the rear bumper was hanging off his Citroen but it was more a case of the bumps rattling it loose, rather than Jonny having slid the car wide anywhere.
Derek McGeehan maintained his place at the front of the National A section of the rally and 5th on the overall leaderboard. Derek felt he had dropped time as his Mini WRC was understeering but really his time was quite respectable. Derek McGarrity was not happy at all at stage finish and he said. `We have a few issues with the car, it is not going great`. Shane McGirr had a decent run through that opening Saturday stage but we have a text message from co-driver Jackie Elliott to say that it looks like the clutch is going in their little Starlet rwd. Daniel McKenna had a decent run although he had to stop his Toyota GT86 very briefly as the electronic dash lit up like a Christmas tree. He reckoned it took about 5s to re-boot it and get going.
Jon Armstrong had an absolutely brilliant time through that opening Saturday stage, 15s faster than Rob Duggan. Callum Devine was a further 16s back, his Opel Adam finishing the stage with tape sticking out of various joints, evidence of a massive overshoot.
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