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| Circuit of Munster 2008 |
| RALLY NEWS No.1 - Pre Start - Wednesday @ 11:23:50 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.1 Woodlands Hotel/Adare/Sunday morning
This Bank Holiday weekend’s Circuit of Munster Rally is a counting round of both the Dunlop National Championship and the Top Part West Coast series. Thanks to being a counter in both Championships, plus the fact that the rally has a great heritage anyway, there’s a great quality entry as well as the maximum number of starters – 161 cars plus 20 Juniors. There have been a few drop-outs from the published programme top ten – Michael Barrable, Kevin Lynch and Seamus Leonard missing. So Niall Maguire, Patrick Elliott, Kevin Barrett, Noel Redmond and Sean Gallagher are the top six runners, all in Subaru World Rally Cars.
Niall Maguire currently leads the Dunlop Championship points by a short head from Patrick Elliott. Monaghan man Niall runs at no1, and if he can keep the sort of momentum going that he has shown recently, he’ll be a hard man to beat. Patrick Elliott at 2 has had some fine tuning work done to the front suspension, roll bars and differential of his Impreza WRC S12b, in an effort to make the car ‘turn in’ better on tight corners. In Dunlop Championship terms the race for the title is crystallising more and more between these two. Maguire has won it four times before, whereas for Elliott this season marks a major effort to capture his maiden title.
Kevin Barrett keeps the No.6 on his Subaru, but starts 3rd on the road. Kevin, with local man Sean Mullally on the pace-notes, has shown a great turn of speed this season, but has been unfortunate enough to non-finish a couple of the rallies. Noel Redmond (No.7) has a new engine fitted to his Subaru. Noel has had a torrid time with this car and he’s hoping that he will at least get a decent run in it here. Wexford man Noel has Newcastle West’s Anthony Nestor co-driving. Sean Gallagher is at 8 in his Impreza WRC, Sean struggling to find his form in recent rallies. Then at 9 and 10 are Eamonn Daly and Alan Ring in their respective GpN machines. Eamonn leads the GpN points on the Dunlop. Alan Ring is the current Top Part West Coast Champion and at the moment is 2nd o/a and heads the GpN category in that series. There are quite a few drivers of GpN machines who should be right on the pace here, with Willie Fannin, Anthony O’Halloran, Sean Flanagan and Andrew Purcell just some who could well feature before the day is out.
Behind the top Group N cars are a gaggle of Mk2 Escorts with drivers such as Paul Purtill, Ed O’Callaghan, Mike Quinn, Ed Synan, Aidan Walsh, Gary Reidy and Trevor Mulligan in their class 13 and 14 Fords all possible top 10 contenders. Young Daniel McKenna is seeded at No.25 and although only a comparative youngster the Monaghan man is highly rated and could spring a surprise. A couple of dark horses could be Joe McHugh, seeded at 16 in his Escort Cosworth or Eoin Doyle who carries the number 28 on his Subaru WRC. Thomas Fitzmaurice is at 27 in his Lancer and he is determined to make his mark on this rally.
Some changes to entry from the published list include Sean Duggan sitting in with Mick McQuaid. Peter Brennan is co-driving for Eoin Doyle and Paul Maguire with Jack Maguire. Non starters, as well as those listed above, include: Car 35 Stephen Cullen: Car 42 David Percy: Car 58 Walter Dick: Car 68 Kieran Guinan: Car 70 Eoin Woods: Ian Roche, who is co-driven by his brother Paul, has switched from a Citroen Saxo Kit Car to the Renault Clio S1600 that Kris Meeke drove in Killarney. Mark Sheahan is also in a Super 1600 Clio so these two could have a good battle.
More news from service: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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