The action is still extremely hot and heavy between the drivers at the front of this Turkington Lurgan Park Rally with all the drivers fighting for every second and Kevin Lynch through it all maintains the upper hand. Kevin was again fastest through stage 3 and said at stage finish. “we were going hard, it was like a Mk2 Escort in places we were that sideways”. Mark Higgins in 2nd place was over a second slower through that stage 3 and when asked could he make any impression on the car in front he said. “Only if I take silly risks”. Mark went on to say that he is trying to find a better diff setting in the Mitsubishi but as each stage is so critical he is being ultra careful about changing the settings. Kenny McKinstry reported a good clean run while Charlie Donnelly, who dropped 2 places on that run, reckoned he was getting his Corolla too sideways on the hairpins. Darren Gass joked at stage finish. “This world rally car stuff is great, it’ll be hard to go back to a group N car!” Darren is of course in the Pirelli GpN Lancer again on the Ulster Rally in 2 weeks time.
Glenn Allen and Denis Biggerstaff were both a bit closer to the top pace through that 3rd stage with James Gillen staying fairly static in 8th o/a. Garry Jennings reported a steady run to maintain his lead in group N. His closest group N rival John McGlaughlin admitted that he was disappointed that he wasn’t faster through stage 3. Trevor Harding is still outside the top 10 in his GpA Subaru, Trevor losing time in that stage with a spin but a lot happier overall in that he discovered that he had the differentials in the Subaru locked some way which was costing him time through the first 2 stages.
Wesley Patterson is extending his lead in the Mark 2 Escort battle with Rodney White now into 2nd in his Sunbeam and Phil Collins has slipped to 3rd following a small overshoot. Camillus Bradley is in 4th and Kris Meeke 5th. Some other interesting positions include: Brian Dowey leading the battle of the Escort Cosworths from Sean Haveron with John McKeown a few seconds back following his turbo problems. Mark Doyle is 15th o/a in his Celica. Will Corry has had some gearbox trouble in his hired McKinstry Subaru WRC and he is 20th o/a. In Class 5 Stuart Clark leads in his Escort 1800 from Alan Jardine with John Keatley 3rd in his Porsche.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
