RALLY NEWS NO.5
Service-Tralee Rd. - Sunday 4.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 Lough Ghe
1st (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Impreza WRC) 52.53
2nd (1) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 53.53
3rd (2) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 54.00
4th (7) Maurice Gass/Ger McMonagle (Impreza WRC) 54.52
5th (5) Ollie O'Donovan/David Moynihan (Impreza) 55.54
6th (156) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Corolla WRc) 56.04
7th (17) Sean Gallagher/Paul Nagle (Esc.Cos) 56.36
8th (9) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (BMW M3) 56.37
9th (21) Aidan Walsh/Frankie Sweeney (Escort) 58.13
10th (32) John Kearney/Sean Moriarty (Escort) 58.49
"Yes, we're going hard, but taking no chances"….reported Eugene
Donnelly when he emerged from stage 6 into service. The Maghera man continuing
"The Subaru feels really good, and I've said it before, these are tough
stages. We're pushing the tyres to the limit, to the very extreme, to see what
they can do". Second placed Tim McNulty told us "I was a bit
cautious in stage 6, but we went hard in stage 5, a bit savage. The plan is to
hold 2nd place now and finish if we can". Donnelly
was fastest in stage 5 with a time of 8.32. Tim McNulty was on 8.35. Michael
Barrable 8.39. Through stage 6 Eugene recorded a time of 8.45, Barrable
8.53 and McNulty 8.54. Michael Barrable reports that he is slowing
building his confidence but far from his limit. Fourth placed Maurice Gass
dropped a lot of time in stage 6 but still held on to 4th place. Maurice's
Subaru WRC overshot a junction and when he went for reverse discovered that the
cable device had snapped, and he had to wait for spectators to push the Impreza
back.
Ollie O'Donovan in 5th place still has no water injection system working on his
gpA Impreza and says he is having to drive the car on the door handles to keep
up. Nigel Hicklin had been in 6th with his Subaru, and indeed going as hard as
he has for a long time, but he has crashed off the road, we hear in roughly the
same spot as David Armstrong crashed earlier. But this has to be confirmed.
Sean Gallagher slipped from 6th to 9th earlier when his Escort Cosworth's engine
lost power. A change of turbo charger has seen Sean back on the pace and
climb 2 places.
Denis Cronin seems to be in subdued form today and freely admits he's not taking
any undue risks….still the M3 is one of the nicest and most exciting cars in
Irish rallying. Garry Jennings had pushed his Peugeot into the top 10 but
dropped several minutes through stages 5 and 6 when the gearbox jammed in 4th
gear.
Willie Fannin has unofficially moved into the lead of gpN ahead of James
O'Sullivan, the pair lying just outside the leaderboard on 58.52 and 58.56
respectively. In the Ford Ireland Focus part of the rally Gabriel Martin and
Oliver Stanley were tying for the lead just ahead of Gerry Keyes after stage 4.
Focus Championship leader starting today, Colm Murphy, put his Focus off the
road again, apparently power steering problems not helping his cause. Ken Lyons
has put his example into a bog, no real damage and Ken is evidently driving the
car back to his Limerick garage. More later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON
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