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| Ulster Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.9 - Ebrington Service - Saturday @ 16:40:22 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.9 Ebrington/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 12 Drumahoe 2
1st (1) Elfyn Evans/Craig Parry (Fiesta R5) 1.47.22.4
2nd (2) Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble (Fiesta R5) 1.48.14.7
3rd (12) Jonny Greer/Kirsty Riddick (Citroen DS3R5) 1.48.36.1
4th (5) David Bogie/James O’Reilly (Fabia R5) 1.49.08.1
5th (3) Keith Cronin/Mikie Galvin (Citroen DS3R5) 1.49.19.3
6th (6) Josh Moffett/John Rowan (Fiesta R5) 1.50.51.7
7th (8) Marty McCormack/David Moynihan (Fabia S2000) 1.51.17.4
8th (25) Rhys Yates/Tom Woodburn (Fiesta) 1.52.30.8
9th (15) Joe McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney (Fabia S2000) 1.52.58.5
10th (27) Matt Edwards/Will Rogers (Fiesta R5) 1.53.18.7
11th Jamie Anderson 12th Tom Cave 13th Brendan Cumiskey 14th Alex Laffey 15th Alan Carmichael 16th Chris Armstrong 17th Robert Woodside
Starting the final loop of 3 stages Elfyn Evans’ lead looked fairly secure and then it became very secure with the news that Keith Cronin had incurred 1.50s of road penalties leaving service following a gearbox change by the David Greer team. It was a calculated gamble for Keith whether to change the box or press on and hope that the noise in the transmission did not bring retirement before the finish. The DGM mechanics did well to change the box in the time they did. This dropped Cronin from 2nd to 5th. Through stage 12 Drumahoe Elfyn was able to ease right back, content in the knowledge that he had almost a minute in hand over now 2nd placed Alastair Fisher. For his part Alastair drove like the wind through that Drumahoe test to record a stunning fastest time. Keith Cronin was 6s down on Alastair but did not lose his cool. Obviously he is going to try to get ahead of Jonny Greer, but he knows that if he definitely gets to the finish of the rally he still has a decent chance of winning the Clonakilty Blackpudding Tarmac C/ship.
Elfyn Evans commented ‘I have a job to do and that is win the British Championship and I still have to get to the end of the rally’. Jonny Greer said ‘We pushed hard but had a stall a few miles from the end. I am trying to keep our position on the leaderboard’.
Although well out of the hunt Fredrik Ahlin is still pushing very hard in his quest to gain as much knowledge of the roads as possible and he had a decent time through Drumahoe. Also going very well is young Derbyshire driver Rhys Yates who commented that the notes are now working well and he is settling into the rally. Marty McCormack said about that Drumahoe stage ‘Places where we had marked as bad in our notes are now very bad’. Josh Moffett is losing valuable seconds as his Fiesta R5 is suffering from a broken exhaust and there is some smoke and fumes and fumes coming into the car. Tom Cave has improved from 23rd overnight up to 12th and he is another getting into the groove of these stages, also making the right tyre choices.
In the National Rally Alan Carmichael has regained the lead and is now a few seconds ahead of Chris Armstrong with Camillus Bradley 3rd. Callum Devine still leads Rob Duggan in the race for R2 honours. Duggan in the Vauxhall Adam is on course for the Junior title. In Group N Paul Britton leads in his Impreza and is 10s ahead of David Guest (Lancer).
On Rally Germany Ogier has moved into an impressive lead after SS12 from Mikkelsen with Neuville in his Hyundai 3rd. Lefebvre in the Citroen has crashed out on the 40.8km Panzerplatte stage and the crew has been taken to hospital by helicopter.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
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