UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1
1st (2) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 10.45
2nd (4) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 10.47
3rd (1) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Corolla WRC) 10.49
4th (3) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 10.53
The above times are from the first few cars only. Tim McNulty reported no problems with his Subaru and similarly Liam McCarthy seemed to have a good run. Denis Cronin had a slight overheating worry with his Subaru. Denis knew before the start of the rally that the block on the Impreza was cracked and may leak some water and he was prepared to top the radiator up between stages. John Dalton was pretty happy to be on the pace in his 2wd Darrian as there were still damp patches in the stage.
Michael Barrable came through on schedule but we haven’t got a time for him yet. Hugh Hunter was very disappointed to finish the stage with one of his Focus WRC wheels punctured. Hugh held up Kevin Kelleher for a few seconds towards the end of the stage.
Kelleher on the provisional time so far was fastest on 11.10. Sean Flanagan in the Subaru was 11.35.
Daragh O’Riordan in his new Impreza WRC recorded a very respectable time of 11.08. Scottish visitor Billy McLelland in his old model Impreza set a time of 11.27.
In the battle of the Escorts Tomas Davis set a time of 11.40: Leonard Downey 11.20. Neil Williams 11.49: Adrian Hetherington said he was very untidy and his time was 12.09. Gwyn Thomas in his Puma had an overshoot and stall at a junction. Gwyn had a major problem with his Escort Cosworth engined Puma before the start when it was discovered that new fuel lines that had only been fitted at Christmas had rotted. He had new ones flown over from Wales and they were fitted just before the start of the rally. Washington James spun his Darrian at a junction on the first stage and lost a few seconds.
Meanwhile, looking further afield, Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle were leading the IRC Rally in Argentina after the Super Special. Apparently the test stage was very rough and both Kris and Wilks broke the suspension in their cars. The opening stage later this morning is reportedly the roughest one of the rally. In France, Marty McCormack is contesting the Touquet Pas de Calais and was lying 2nd in the Citroen Racing Trophy C2R2 Max division. Marty had about 10 French drives behind him but was amazed at the pace of Belgian driver Thiery Neville who had opened up a gap of a minute after last night’s 4 stages in heavy rain.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
