102 cars left Parc Ferme to head out to the opening Gortnagane stage this morning. As can be seen above Garry Jennings was fastest with No.1 seed Donagh Kelly 10s back. Garry remarked at stage finish that he caught a glimpse of Donagh’s Focus in the distance a couple of times in the stage, and it put him off his stride a little. Donagh Kelly said he found the stage very gravelly and was a little too cautious. Keith Cronin should have been next down the 18.4km test but there was no sign of the Ballylickey man and his Citroen for a long time. Keith’s car was stuck between the arrival control of the stage and the start line for 20 minutes. Eventually Cronin did complete the stage in a time of just over 10m. The position as regards road penalties remains to be seen.
Sam Moffett and Alastair Fisher both had really good runs through that stage. Alastair is going to switch the front and back tyres before the start of stage 2, Banard. Alan Ring told of a very big moment over gravel in the middle of the stage that took the wind out of his sails. Stephen Wright had a similar experience. Joe McGonigle lost approximately 7m when he stopped to change a punctured tyre on his Skoda. The car fell off the jack, then the jack broke and a marshal ran and got another jack. Owen Murphy stalled his Skoda at the stage start and swears the launch sequence has changed since the last time he drove the car. That is computers for you….!!!
David Guest set a time of 11.34 with his GpN Lancer but said there was no power from the engine, possibly turbo woes. Brian O’Keefe is next GpN car on the road and he is really struggling with an injured back. He felt of his bicycle practising for last week’s Rally Sprint.
In the National Rally Ed Murphy was fastest with a time of 10.36 from Eugene Meegan on 10.40 and Fergus O’Meara 10.43. O’Meara had a distinct lack of brakes at stage finish. Kevin O’Donoghue was in early trouble with his new BMW as it developed a severe fuel leak. Further stories include – Callum Devine in his Opel Adam and passed 2 cars in the stage. Fraser Mulholland in his R2 Fiesta slid off the road on a square right and lost about 30s.
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