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| Ulster Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.8 - Ebrington Service - Saturday @ 14:46:38 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.8 Ebrington/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 11 Slievekirk 2
1st (1) Elfyn Evans/Craig Parry (Fiesta R5) 1.38.05.7
2nd (3) Keith Cronin/Mikie Galvin (Citroen DS3R5) 1.38.27.7
3rd (2) Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble (Fiesta R5) 1.39.19.9
4th (12) Jonny Greer/Kirsty Riddick (Citroen DS3R5) 1.39.26.4
5th (5) David Bogie/James O’Reilly (Fabia R5) 1.39.52.5
6th (6) Josh Moffett/John Rowan (Fiesta R5) 1.41.29.0
7th (8) Marty McCormack/David Moynihan (Fabia S2000) 1.41.59.7
8th (25) Rhys Yates/Tom Woodburn (Fiesta) 1.43.13.6
9th (15) Joe McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney (Fabia S2000) 1.43.25.6
10th (27) Matt Edwards/Will Rogers (Fiesta R5) 1.44.09.6
11th Jamie Anderson 12th Tom Cave 13TH Brendan Cumiskey
Keith Cronin was just 1.6s slower than Elfyn Evans through stage 11, the 2nd run over Slievekirk. This fits in with the pattern of times over today’s stages – Elfyn generally a few seconds quicker with Keith nipping one or two seconds back. The name of the game for both drivers is Championship position. In Elfyn’s case it is the BRC and for Keith it is the Irish Tarmac. Elfyn commented when he came into service. ‘A good run, no problems’. Keith on the other hand did not look just his usual cheerful self and related that there may be a small problem with his Citroen in that there is a banging noise coming from the transmission. This could be a foretaste of gearbox or differential trouble. Whatever it is, it does not sound good. Alastair Fisher was 2nd fastest through stage 11 and he has moved up into 3rd o/a, critically ahead of Jonny Greer as regards Tarmac points. David Bogie switched on to a super soft Pirelli tyre for that 11th stage and although he felt it was not a whole lot faster it certainly gave him more confidence. Josh Moffett rounds off the top 6 and he said that he had no issues through stage 11.
Fredrik Ahlin is now in 35th place following his stage 10 excursion. Marty McCormack is driving as hard as he can to hold on to his 7th place but feels his Skoda S2000 is not pulling as it should and he is going to try a new set of spark plugs. Joe McGonigle said he pushed reasonably hard in that stage 11 but he was only 1.6s faster than Derbyshire’s Rhys Yates in 8th. Callum Devine continues to extend his lead in R2 and he said he had a few niggles on the first day with his Opel Adam, one of them being a damaged brake disc. He has however gone well today and has extended his lead over Rob Duggan. Killarney man Rob is intent on just getting to the end of the rally which will secure the British Junior Rally title. Behind Rob in the class is Sindre Furuseth co driven by Jim Hjerpe in a R2 Renault Twingo. The driver is Norwegian, the co driver is Swedish. Sindre is 1m11s in arrears of the Duggan Vauxhall Adam, but then this is Sindre’s first ever tarmac rally, his first event in Ireland, so he is on a steep learning curve.
Group N on the National part of the rally is led by Paul Britton/George Tinsley in their Mitsubishi Lancer. They have had a few problems such as a broken drive shaft at the shakedown and a redesigned rear quarter panel on the rally. The boot lid is being held closed by a bungee strap! The lead of the National Rally has changed. Alan Carmichael did lead but wrong slotted on the way to stage 11 and the Mini WRC arrived at the stage 11m late which meant 110s penalty. This handed the lead to Chris Armstrong/Chris Melly in their Escort. Carmichael is now 20s back. Camillus Bradley is 3rd o/a National. Still going strong is TT Champion Michael Dunlop. He is lying 22nd o/a and ahead of many established Mk2 Escort drivers.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
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