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| Rally Isle of Man |
| RALLY NEWS No.6 - After SS9 - Friday @ 18:53:36 |
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MANX TAILS/RALLYNEWS NO.6 Grandstand/Friday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 Tholt-y-will
1st (2) Keith Cronin/Barry McNulty (Impreza N) 58.21.7
2nd (10) Jason Pritchard/Robbie Durant (Impreza N) 1.00.13.0
3rd (3) Gwyndaf Evans/Gareth Roberts (Lancer N) 1.00.15.9
4th (6) Jonny Greer/Gordon Noble (Lancer N) 1.00.34.2
5th (14) Nigel & Michaela Cannell (Lancer N) 1.01.05.4
6th (8) Steven Quine/Richard Skinner (Lancer N) 1.01.32.3
7th (19) Jarkko Nikara/Petri Nikara (Twingo) 1.02.21.7
8th (20) Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly (Citroen) 1.02.26.0
9th (17) Elfyn Evans/Andrew Edwards (Fiesta) 1.02.31.7
10th (21) Mark Donnelly/Aidan Friel (Citroen) 1.02.42.0
No sooner had Adam Gould set a fastest time on stage 7 Staarvey than it all went wrong in stage 8, The Cronk. At the narrow skew jump crossroads towards the end of the stage at the Curraghs Adam’s Impreza landed heavily and did a bit of a hop and a 360 spin, then knocked down a series of fence posts. Adam got the car to the end of the stage and indeed lost very little time, but the radiator and intercooler were damaged and it appears that he is not able to continue. Gwyndaf Evans set a couple of scorching times through stage 9 to move up the leaderboard a few places. Gwyndaf was 7th after his stage 6 dramas and now he is in 3rd and closing in on Jason Pritchard.
Rally leader Keith Cronin brought his Pirelli backed Impreza into service and said. “Everything is fine but it is hard to pick a pace.” Gwyndaf Evans said. “We are trying to go reasonably strong. It is very slippy in places and it would be easy to have half a spin.” Jonny Greer’s co driver Gordon Noble said. “We’re doing everything quite sensibly. Nothing wrong with the driving, not just going as quickly as the guys at the front”. Jason Pritchard said. “The car worked very well over these last 3 stages. We softened the suspension a little and it is soaking up the bumps”. Nigel Cannell and his co-driving wife Michaela continue to be the leading Manx crew and Nigel commented at service in. “The car is going very well, but the wife keeps shouting at me not to lift and I’m going as fast as I can at my age!” Steven Quine was disappointed when he brought his Lancer into service after the Tholt-y-Will stage and he said. “I’m struggling a bit, missing gears and had an overshoot on the Curraghs”.
Icelandic driver Daniel Sigurdarson is in more mechanical trouble, his Lancer has lost its turbo boost for the last 2 stages and it will take the mechanics 40m to change the turbo but they are only allowed 20m in service.
In the race for the R2 class honours Jarkko Nikara in the Twingo has edged ahead of Robert Barrable in the Citroen C2R2 Max. Robert’s co driver Damien Connolly told us that they have softened the suspension slightly on the Citroen and it is coping with the conditions very well and Robert is really learning how to drive the car in the wet. Finnish driver Rantanen in the 2nd Twingo said. “I’m not performing my best today. Sometimes braking too early”. Elfyn Evans is 3rd in class R2 in his Fiesta. Actually it is not Elfyn’s car, it is one of his customer’s cars who has lent it to him for two rallies. Mark Donnelly is 2nd in the Citroen Racing Trophy and he lost a few seconds with intercom trouble on that loop of stages. Richard Sykes is 3rd in the Citroens despite all his electrical problems. Australian girl Molly Taylor who has her mother Coral co-driving is 4th Citroen and reports no problems at all. Theo Bengry retired his Ascona 400 with axle trouble. Jonathan Cunningham only had to finish to win his part of the Fiesta championship but has retired in stage 6 with a broken drive shaft.
More news to follow: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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