The onset of rain changed the complexion of the rally somewhat but at least the drivers had time to get wet weather tyres fitted and there were no major dramas on the first stage, McGaffins Corner, following service. Eamonn Boland did lose quit ea few seconds when his Subaru suffered a puncture, but there were few dramas amongst the leading cars. Kevin Lynch reported the roads to be very slippy in the rain. Mark Higgins and Guy Wilks, along with most of the other drivers, had their wet tyres fitted, and reported no incidents.
Kenny McKinstry said he really enjoyed the stage whereas Derek McGarrity had problems with his Subaru screen misting up and couldn’t see the road very well. Derek still set a decent time, just a few seconds down on McKinstry. Seamus Leonard is starting to struggle a bit with his Lancer as the clutch is slipping, and it is a big job to change. Phillip Morrow said he was being cautious through the stage but in overall terms still doing a good job. Keith Cronin softened up the suspension rebound on his Lancer and reckoned it was a good stage for him and also good experience to be rallying at this level on asphalt in the rain.
Sebastien Ogier was only a couple of seconds down on Glenn Allen through the stage. Sebastien and Brian O’Mahony still swapping seconds at every turn. Denis Biggerstaff is still down in 15th place and was being careful of the puddles in that McGaffins Corner. Danny Barry is really struggling to set the times, Danny reckoning his Lancer is very dead.
In the National Rally David Armstrong has forced to the front in his Subaru. David helped by the fact that he was able to get a couple of intermediate spares fitted to the front for stage 11. Camillus Bradley was 2nd and described his Escort fishtailing at 100 mph down the 1000 yard straight in Fishers Hill. Elfyn Evans is up to a brilliant 3rd o/a and leading the Fiestas. Raymond Conlon is 4th in his twincam. Alastair Fisher is 5th and 2nd Fiesta. Alastair had been leading the Fiestas but lost well over 30s when he broke a drive shaft. He has managed to claw a few seconds back from Evans over the last 3 stages but with just 2 more stages to go he really can’t do much about his position. Damien Toner had been 2nd o/a in the Nationals but his Escort has been sidelined with an accident. Keith McIvor has forged through to 8th o/a in his Porsche and lead the Historics getting ahead of Alan Jardine who had led earlier. Former Ulster Rally winner Derek Boyd is well down the order having taken ill as a result of fumes from his Porsche exhaust. The Porsche is now OK but Derek isn’t.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
