1st (1) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.05.35.8
2nd (3) Kevin Lynch/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 1.06.06.4
3rd (7) Mark Hggins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 1.06.55.8
4th (8) Guy Wilks/David Moynihan (Lancer N) 1.08.04.1
5th (4) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 1.08.06.2
6th (6) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 1.08.19.1
7th (9) Gwyndaf Evans/Paul Nagle (Lancer N) 1.08.25.1
8th (19) Darren Gass/Neil Shanks (Lancer N) 1.08.46.1
9th (18) Phillip Morrow/Gordon Noble (Lancer N) 1.09.05.3
10th (16) Seamus Leonard/Gerry McVeigh (Lancer N) 1.09.33.9
LATE NEWS: Darren Gass has rolled the Pirelli Lancer in stage 10, still going.
Through The Hollow stage Kevin Lynch turned in the fastest time by a substantial 6s over Eamonn Boland while Mark Higgins and Derek McGarrity tied for 3rd quickest. Guy Wilks made a remarkable recovery, well certainly his Lancer did, from his stage 8 accident and Guy was just 5s down on Mark Higgins. By most people’s standards it really was a great achievement to recover from the accident but Guy’s response at stage finish was. “That time is not good enough for me”. Eamonn Boland reported no problems while Kevin Lynch said that stage went better for him. He had decided not to change on to a softer compound Pirelli as the bigger loop of stages would heat the tyres up better. Mark Higgins commented. “The Impreza is really tops now, we’ve changed the damper settings, went slightly softer and it is really good”. Gwyndaf Evans was slightly disappointed to have missed a gear going into a hairpin and had a half spin, so he has now dropped behind Derek McGarrity in the overall leaderboard.
Kenny McKinstry said of that Holly stage. “It was good but tricky”. Young Darren Gass said he was very messy through the stage, mucked up on some of the junctions just pushing too hard. Seamus Leonard has been going backwards in his times, Seamus and co driver Gerry are still 10th but are now being overhauled by Keith Cronin and Seamus is at a loss to understand why his times are not good. Glenn Allen is still having brake troubles with his Corolla and said. “These brakes are doing my head in!” Keith Cronin said he wasn’t pushing too hard. David Higgins is just holding on to 12th place, not making any real headway on the cars in front and did say. “Fair play to Phillip Morrow, he’s setting good times now”.
The young French driver Sebastien Ogier had a good run in his C2R2 Max but again gave a couple of seconds away to Brian O’Mahony. Sebastien is 14th and Brian 15th. The gap between the two in the race for 2 wheel drive honours is now just under 22s. Brian thought his Clio engine was better this morning but it seems to be now reverting to it’s off tune self. Denis Biggerstaff is struggling with himself, not the car, this morning. He is suffering from a really sore back and has now taken some painkillers but said. “I really didn’t want to start the rally this morning”.
News is coming in that The Hollow stage has now been stopped, that Howard Clarke has crashed his Lancer. No definitive news on the welfare of the crew. The following cars are not now doing the stage competitively.
The Citroen C2R2 Cup Adrian McElhinney leads by 28s from Marty McCormack with Martin Tynan 3rd and Jason Pritchard 4th.
In the National Rally Camillus Bradley still leads despite an overshoot in stage 7. Damien Toner is 2nd in his Escort and David Armstrong is a strong 3rd despite an overshoot into a farmyard. Adrian Hetherington had led but he clipped a kerb and damaged a wheel and punctured a tyre, losing 4 minutes. Raymond Conlon is 4th in his black Toyota twin cam but has a big power disadvantage. Alastair Fisher did lead the Fiestas but at a downhill square right junction he came in too fast, powered through and broke a drive shaft. Alastair reckoned he had lost as much as a minute and Elfyn Evans is now leading. There was nothing between them prior to this incident.
More news later: BRIAN, LIZ & MICHAEL PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
