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| Pirelli International Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.6 - After S6 - Saturday @ 10:50:55 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.6 (Expanded No.5) Carlisle Service/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 BLACK SHED
1st (1) Keith Cronin/Barry McNulty (Impreza N) 49.07.1
2nd (2) Gwyndaf Evans/Chris Patterson (Lancer N) 49.29.6
3rd (3) Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (Fiesta S2000) 49.40.3
4th (4) Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 50.07.9
5th (5) Dave Weston Jnr/Ieuan Thomas (Impreza N) 50.33.7
6th (8) Jonny Greer/Dai Roberts (Lancer N) 50.55.3
7th (10) Daniel Sigurdarson/Asta Siguroardottir (Lancer N) 51.10.2
8th (24) Owen Murphy/James O’Brien (Lancer N) 52.26.3
9th (16) Jarkko Nikara/Petri Nikara (Twingo) 52.51.8
10th (12) Jason Pritchard/Robbie Durant (Impreza N) 53.25.6
Stages 5 and 6 brought their fair share of dramas with Mark Higgins putting his Subaru into a ditch in stage 5. Matti Rantanen also was sidelined when his Twingo reportedly wnet off the road. Keith Cronin was fastest in stage 5 and Craig Breen fastest in stage 6. Alastair Fisher was 2nd fastest in 5 and 3rd fastest in 6 behind Breen and Evans. Keith Cronin was 4th fastest on 6. Cronin has had 50s added on to his stage 1 time to bring his leading margin over Gwyndaf Evans down to 22s. Apparently the memory in the stage 1 clock has been downloaded and that showed up the discrepancy from last night.
Jarkko Nikara has moved into the lead of class 2 despite his Twingo clutch giving trouble. There is a hydraulic leak in the bell housing and the Asquith team will be unable to sort it out until after the rally. Robert Barrable has moved into the lead of the Citroen Racing Trophy contenders. Richard Sykes was leading but his C2R2 is reported in a ditch in the Glen Dhu stage. Swedish driver PG Andersson had been in the top 10 this morning but crashed his Fiesta in stage 5, reportedly got going, but then the car stopped in stage 6.
Keith Cronin commented here at service. “We dropped a few seconds in stage 6, the tyres were shot, we were pushing hard earlier and the very hard surface and the ruts took their toll on the tyres”. As regards the stage 1 time being amended, the feeling within the Cronin team is that they will be appealing this decision. Gwyndaf Evans’ co driver Chris Patterson told us. “Gwyndaf is going just about flat out. The back tyres were gone on that last stage but we will keep going flat out. The car is working very well, we are very pleased. The dust is still a bit of a problem, some corners are very blind and Gwyndaf is having to brake too early”. Craig Breen echoed some of Chris’ comments about the dust when he said. “In places, in the high speed sections, it is difficult. Overall I didn’t think I was pushing that hard when we got the fastest times. Everything is under control. I am concentrating on getting to the finish”.
Alastair Fisher said. “Its very fast out there and in fairness we have been very committed”. When Jarkko Nikara brought his Twingo into service he said. “We have some problems with the clutch, it is getting worse all the time”. Dave Weston Jnr felt he was being over-cautious this morning and he also had worries over tyres wear so will not push too hard on the next stages. Euan Thorburn who is outside the leaderboard reckons it is not worth his while taking too many risks as he is in a bit of a no-man’s land as regards the leaderboard. Daniel Sigurdarson said. “After the bad dip jump we have some grease coming from the drive shaft but I keep smiling, the dust is much better than yesterday. I made the wrong call on tyres this morning, used scrubbed ones from yesterday.” The Icelandic driver then said. “Those boys in front are flying!”
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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