Through stage 6, Dunworley, it was Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble who set the fastest time in their Modern Tyres Fiesta R5. Alastair was 2s faster than rally leader Donagh Kelly and 4s up on R5 rival Keith Cronin. Garry Jennings had a middling time and he slipped from 2nd to 3rd.
Here at service Alastair`s co-driver Gordon Noble said. `We did not do anything different in that stage. We just came to this rally, did the recce and made the notes, and we are driving to them. We have no experience of these stages. The tyre choice now is fine.` Donagh Kelly said. `We did make a big push on the Ring stage but on that last one I did not think I drove very well`. Keith Cronin said he was a bit too cautious, the stage was a little damp and mucky in places. Harking back to his spin on the Ring stage Garry Jennings told us. `Going into the hairpin I was on a nice big slide and then the corner tightened and tightened. I got stuck and the car would not re-start and it would not go forward or back!` It is worth remembering of course that Garry is a stranger to these classic stages. As is Alistair Fisher. Of Course the Ring is an old favourite stage here on the West Cork Rally. Josh Moffett had a good stage time in Dunworley to maintain his 5th place. While Roy White dropped quite a few seconds and slipped back to 8th.
Daragh O`Riordan admits to still being a bit hesitant in the stages, it is just not flowing for the Scariff Plant Hire man. Joe McGonigle is lying just outside the top 10 and is having a good battle with Jonny Greer. Owen Murphy was sidelined earlier today when his new Fabia S2000 suffered a clutch release bearing failure. That has been fixed and Owen is going into Rally 2 to try and clock up some miles in the new car.
David Guest continues to lead group N and is very much driving at his own pace. Brendan Cumiskey is building up confidence in his left hand drive Fiesta and has now edged ahead of Aaron MacHale in his Skoda S2000. MacHale is still trying to get to grips with left foot braking. Welshman Tomas Davies is now lying 16h o/a and has had some good stages today but it did not click for him on stage 6 and he lost quite a bit of time on that. Clonakilty Blackpudding man Ed Twomey retired his new Citroen on stage 3 when a flexible turbo pipe broke. He reckons the damage was possibly caused by a big jump in stage 2. He and co driver Sean Hassett plan to rejoin the fray in rally 2. Jason Ryan was in the top 6 in the Nationals but the clutch on his Civic has expired and he has retired. The National Rally is still being led by Brian Brogan/Damien McGettigan in the Escort with Alan Ring now up to 2nd and Adrian Hetherington 3rd. Phillip Young is leading the Historic Rally in his Escort from Wyn Hughes (Escort) after SS5.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
