UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Belleville
1st (2) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 32.43.9
2nd (1) Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 32.46.9
3rd (9) Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (Fiesta S2000) 33.28.6
4th (4) Aaron MacHale/Eugene O'Donnell (Focus WRC) 33.36.4
5th (7) Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 33.39.9
6th (6) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 34.29.3
7th (15) Jer O'Donovan/Sean Hayde (Impreza N) 35.31.7
8th (29) Sean Flanagan/Brian Duggan (Impreza N) 35.44.0
9th (14) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 35.45.7
10th (30) Marty McCormack/Dai Roberts (C2R2 Max) 35.49.9
NATIONALS
1st Daniel McKenna (Escort): 2nd Barry Meade (Escort): 3rd Pat Kelly (Impreza)
Just 0.3 of a second separated Tim McNulty and Gareth MacHale at the end of the 16.9km Belleville stage. Craig Breen was just 13s down on the two world rally cars at the front so it is all to play for. McNulty just had the edge on MacHale neither driver reporting any problems in the stage. Craig Breen made a few set up changes to his Fiesta S2000 at service and is visibly speeding up as the day progresses. Pirelli man Martin Pallow and his colleague Matthew were at stage finish and they were able to record that first time through that stage the ambient road temperature was minus 3 degrees and the second time through it was plus 6. It is still misty out there and conditions are not easy.
Aaron MacHale felt that he pushed hard and had a good run through the stage so he was a little disappointed with his time. Alastair Fisher continues to keep a very high but steady pace and was fastest of the conventional group N cars. Richard Cathcart and his co driver Martin Brady were 5th after SS2 and then slipped to 7th after SS3 but have gone out of the rally on stage 4. Their GpN Impreza gearbox cried enough after a big jump bridge near the stage finish. Jonny Greer retired his GpN Lancer in stage 3 when the car slipped off the road and got stuck in a big on a very fast right hander.
A disconsolate Keith Cronin is wandering about the service area with his hands in his pockets and told us that the damage to his Lancer following the SS2 accident is very light. Keith hopes to do the Sunday Run of the rally. He also said that the accident was at the end of a very long fast straight and he maybe left his braking a little late in the fog. There were some spectators in a gravel lane which might have provided an escape route but he felt he had to try and get around the corner and he clouted the rear of the car. Galway man Mike Bird is having big trouble with the brakes jamming on in his Impreza and feels he will be hard pushed to get the car through this loop of 3 stages and back to service. Tommy Doyle has got the exhaust fixed on his Clio and can now hear the notes and is going a lot better. Daragh O’Riordan switched to a softer compound tyre and said it has transformed his Clio. Andrew Bushe is struggling with the suspension set up on his Citroen C2 S1600 and is well down in the dumps. Marty McCormack leads the Citroen Racing Trophy C2R2 Max category and is leading his class. Marty doesn’t quite know how fast to go now. Unofficially we have Robert Barrable 2nd in the Citroen C2R2s and Adrian McElhinney 3rd. Dave Quigley/Des Sherlock of All Weather Covers are leading their class in the Civic. Stephen Wright is leading the Fiestas by approximately 20s from Stephen Baxter. Andrew Hockridge was forced to retire his C2R2 when the throttle body went awry in stage 2.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL rallynews.net
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