RALLY NEWS No.4 - Milford service - Friday @ 15:13:40
RALLY NEWS NO.4 Service/Milford/Friday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Fanad 2
1st (1) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 35.28.4
2nd (6) Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Fiesta S2000) 35.45.7
3rd (5) Seamus Leonard/John McCafferty (Impreza WRC) 35.54.7
4th (2) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 36.06.2
5th (3) Daragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 36.18.9
6th (149) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 36.36.5
7th (9) Donagh Kelly/Kevin Flanagan (Lancer N) 37.18.0
8th (8) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 38.03.4
9th (24) Seamus Heron/Gerry McVeigh (Corolla WRC) 38.08.1
10th (4) Garry Jennings/David Moynihan (Lancer N) 38.13.2
NATIONAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4
1st (14) Daniel McKenna/Andrew Grennan (Escort) 36.33.4
2nd (21) Damien Gallagher/Mac Walsh (Escort) 37.12.0
3rd (25) Barry Meade/Eamonn Hayes (Escort) 37.14.7
4th (19) Wesley Patterson/Martin McGarrity (Escort) 37.25.2
5th (20) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 37.44.0
6th (37) Eugene Ferry/Derek Heena (Escort) 38.00.5
7th Brian Brogan 8th Manus Kelly 9th Paul Harris 10th Martin McGee 11th Samuel Kelso 12th Conor Curley
Tim McNulty fitted hard compound tyres to his Subaru for the 2nd loop of today’s stages and pulverised the opposition. Tim Was 21s faster than Alastair Fisher. Alastair led the rally leaving service after stage 3 but his Fiesta S2000 lacks the top speed of most of the other top cars. Well-known co-driver and Clerk of the Course of Rally Ireland, Gordon Noble was on the Fanad stage with a radar device and clocked Alastair at 104mph. Tim McNulty was doing 128mph. Daniel McKenna in his Escort an amazing 127! Interestingly, Tim did exactly the same time on that 2nd run over Fanad as he did in the opposite direction last year.
Daniel continues to lead the National Rally although there may be a road penalty applied as he was slightly late leaving service. Following his scrape against a wall on Atlantic Drive this morning Daniel’s Escort was suffering a bent rear axle. The team removed the axle at service, cut it in two and re-welded it to make it straight. No wonder they were a bit late! The axle is leaking a wee bit of oil but judging by Daniel’s time through stage 4 there’s not too much wrong with the car.
Derek McGarrity reckons his Impreza suspension is too soft and he also picked too soft a tyre. Alastair Fisher admitted that he was frustrated through the Fanad stage but reckons it is the worst stage in the rally for him as regards top speed, and that is it out of the way. Sam Moffett felt his car wandering in Fanad and was wondering if he had picked too soft a tyre. Donagh Kelly in the Airtricity Lancer is best of the conventional Group N cars and feels that he picked too hard a compound front tyre for that stage. Ivan Stewart’s Escort Cosworth is losing power because the water injection is clicking off. Eugene Ferry lost a few seconds when his Escort fuel pump stopped and he had to switch to the spare.
The reason for David Bogie’s retirement was a burst oil pipe. Timekeeper Crawford Henderson spotted the leak and warned David about the leak and that possibly saved the engine. The new slim line Vincent Bonner, winner here in 1983, is having a ball in his Escort today. Co-driver Seamus McGettigan said. “Its taking a week while but we’re getting there”. In the Citroen Racing Trophy Scott McElhinney/Karl Reid had their Citroen C2R2 Max up to 13th o/a in the International and are leading Mark Sheahan/Mark kane by 15s. Mark reckons his car was down on power through the opening 3 stages. Joe McGonigle/Joe Burns survived a major moment on Atlantic Drive and are lying 3rd.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks to Michael Patterson) *For SMS results text RALLY ITC to 53030 (Irl) or RALLY ITC to 60066 (UK). Cost 30c/25p. Text STOP to switch off. Provided by stagetimes.com
