Fornenst
Benburb – Friday 4.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 The Hollow
1st (1)
Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 7.50.7
2nd (5)
Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Impreza WRC) 8.11.0
3rd (3)
Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 8.13.1
(4) Tapio Laukkanen/Ilka
Riipinen (Impreza WRC) 8.13.1
5th (8)
Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 8.13.9
6th (11)
Kris Meeke/Dave Senior (Corsa) 8.16.1
7th (6)
Jari-Matti Latvala/Miika Antila (Focus WRC) 8.19.6
Just 10 cars emerged from this first stage of the Ulster Rally before
proceedings were interrupted when Peadar Hurson crashed his Impreza WRC within
sight of the start line of the test. This held up following crews Seamus
Leonard, Roy White and Paddy White. As the minutes ticked away, no sign of
Hurson getting going while Leonard, Roy White and Paddy White will almost
certainly receive a "notional" time for the stage, still to be
decided.
First on the road, Andrew Nesbitt, had reported the stage to be
"extremely slippy". The Cross Refrigeration man, wiping the sweat from
this brow, evidence of how hard he had been working in the stage, went on to say
"The car is all over the place, I was trying to keep it neat and tidy, if
you go into a corner late it could be all over". Jonny Milner was next
through the stage which finishes just outside Kieran McAnallen’s old ToughMac
factory, the Pirelli British Rally Champion saying "Typical of me, very
cautious in that first stage, it was slippy in places, but other points not too
bad, hard to tell. Car’s a bit nervous, but you know there is different
pressure on me now, going for the championship points, not too worried about
trying to win". Derek McGarrity commented "Treacherous in there, I
reckon if I pushed too hard I would have been in the hedge".
Tapio Laukkanen wasn’t happy at stage finish, saying "Big disaster,
totally blind in the whole stage, no intercoms, no pace notes and I don’t know
the road, not so good". Austin MacHale set a good time and he said
"OK, the brakes were slightly off, but OK". Finnish driver Jari-Matti
Latvala commented "I go carefully now to feel the grip".
In the race for the top Super 1600 cars Kris Meeke was fastest, 9s up on
Welshman Gwyndaf Evans with Garry Jennings a further 16 behind. Meeke reported
all well, Gwyndaf said "It wasn’t flowing, difficult to judge the grip
glad to get out of the stage". Garry Jennings was looking really flustered
at stage finish and reported "Third gear gone, gearbox leaking oil, 2
stages to service, not so good".
Eamonn Boland was delayed at stage finish when his Impreza WRC suffered a
small fire at the back when a hydraulic pipe to the rear differential came
adrift. Eamonn eventually was able to block it off and continue, hopefully he
shouldn’t lose any real time even though he is running with a locked rear
diff.
Some further times in after the stage re-started – Andrew Stewart in the
gpN Lancer did 8.33.4. Ryan Champion in the Ford Puma 8.37.2. Leon Pesticcio in
the Fiat had a good time of 8.22.0, 2nd fastest Super 1600. Dougie
Hall in the gpA Lancer recorded 8.37.5. Young Michael Curran has just finished
the stage on a time of 8.25.0 which provisionally puts him into the grpN lead
for the moment. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
