Stage 5 was the 2nd run over Shamrock Bridge and once again it was Tim McNulty’s at the top of the fastest times list. Alastair Fisher was 2nd fastest just over 4s in arrears and Paul Bird was 3rd fastest. When Tim reached service he told us. “The car is fine, I am under no pressure at the moment”. Second placed Daragh O’Riordan also seems to be under no pressure and is driving very much within himself. While Alastair Fisher is going really well, especially through stages like Gortnagane where there are not so many junctions, and he is not having to slow the GpN car down and then accelerate up again. With these changeable conditions tyre choice is obviously a real guessing game for the drivers and Aaron MacHale felt that although his tyres were not great in some places on that loop, in other spots they worked well. Denis Cronin reported that there was a loose turbo pipe on his Subaru this morning, that has been fixed but the car is still not pulling the way it should.
Craig Breen was another to remark that his tyres worked well in one stage not so well in another, and in overall terms said. “I’m happy enough but I certainly don’t want to bend the car”. Paul Bird picked an intermediate tyre, a sort of middle of the road choice, and it seems to be working well for him. This is Paul’s first visit to the Killarney Lakes rally and he is certainly getting on the pace now. Apart from the problem with the car on the first stage Paul was a bit sleepy as well this morning, as his 18 month old daughter Lexie was wedged between himself and his wife Lindsay in bed in the Gleneagle last night, and the motorbike supremo didn’t get a lot of sleep! Colm Murphy is just about matching times with Craig Breen now, although Colm had a bit of a worry in stage 5 when one of his Impreza bonnet clips came loose on a long very high speed straight. Eamonn Daly’s Lancer suffered an overshoot earlier on which lost him little time and he is certainly another well in the hunt for GpN.
Danny McBride was up as high as 10th o/a but he has slipped to 13th in his GpN Lancer although he reports no real troubles. Eoin Doyle has dropped down the classification having spent about 30m digging his Subaru out of a garden in stage 4. John Hickey has had a bad day in his Subaru engined Escort. A puncture earlier knocked the tracking out, the clutch pedal is now going to the floor, a wheel speed sensor has got knocked off and the machine is now in rear wheel drive only. John said. “It is on the verge of undriveable but great value for money there is so much over-steer. If you were paying for the exercise in the gym it would cost you a fortune”. Vincent O’Shea’s Escort Cosworth very nearly hit a house a 3 right when his soft compound intermediates completely lost their grip. Damien McCarthy/Eamonn Hayes started the rally with a very 2nd hand gearbox in their Civic, and they reckoned the box may not last the rally. It certainly didn’t as after 2 stages it was goosed. And they were contemplating retirement.
Marty McCormack/Dai Roberts are holding 11th o/a and leading the Citroen Racing Trophy. Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly are 2nd and Shane Buckley/Thomas Maguire 3rd. In the National Rally Phil Collins/Steve McAuley are still having a huge battle with Barry Meade/Johnny Hickey with Collins leading by 14s. Ed O’Callaghan also in an Escort is 3rd.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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