Rally leader Garry Jennings brought his Subaru into service after stage 3 and he said. “The conditions are very tough. It is so slippy with lots of mud on the road.” His co driver Rory Kennedy added: “We are not quite in the groove yet but we are getting there”. Declan Boyle once again reported his Fiesta WRC down on power with little turbo boost. One of the parts fitted to the car before the event was a new inlet manifold, but Declan does not feel that that is where the problem lies. Alastair Fisher had a great run through stage 2, not quite so sharp through SS3, and his co driver Gordon Noble said. “Our run was a bit tentative there”. Josh Moffett slipped a couple of places on stage 3 although the times are so close that there is nothing in it and Josh said. “We were not able to commit, it is so slippy”. His brother Sam on the other hand was bubbling when he reached service. He seemed very happy and his confidence is well up.
Roy White is looking very solid in 5th place and he told us. “We are waking up but keeping it steady and in the middle of the road”. Jonny Greer said “This is very challenging”. Robert Barrable echoed that when he commented. “There is so much mud being pulled out from the cars in front. The top drivers are in for a shock on their next run over this stage”. Joe McGonigle is currently in 10th and he said. “I know I am miles away but this car is so different from the S2000”. Brendan Cumiskey lost a few seconds getting past Aaron MacHale who had spun. Stephen McCann Is in an S2000 not an R5 and he is getting to grips with his new car.
In the National Rally Ryan Loughran is leading after stage 2 but has crashed out in stage 3. Eugene Meegan had a time consuming spin on that 3rd stage. Gary Kiernan has incurred a 15s road penalty. Damien Tourish is just 2s ahead of Gary and leads the Nationals. Andrew Fanning dropped a few seconds when his Fiesta cut out on SS3. Frank Cunningham has put his BMW off the road but managed to get going. Ernie Graham currently leads the Historic Rally. William Mavitty is leading Group N despite spark plug trouble with his Lancer. William Creighton leads Class 2 from Jon Armstrong. Kevin Eves is a solid 3rd in the National despite spinning his Corolla at a square left.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
