| RALLY NEWS NO.9 Finish/Radisson Hotel/Sunday 5.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 14 – FINAL STAGE
1st (1) Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (C4 WRC) 2.02.09.5
2nd (3) Dani Sordo/Mark Marti (Xsara WRC) 2.04.31.0
3rd (5) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 2.07.09.3
4th (7) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 2.07.52.7
5th (2) Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Focus WRC) 2.09.38.5
6TH (9) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 2.10.44.2
7TH (8) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 2.11.40.8
8TH (12) Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy (Focus WRC) 2.13.35.0
9th (14) Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman (Focus WRC) 2.15.08.0
10TH (4) Gareth MacHale/Craig Parry (Focus WRC) 2.16.13.1
It was very special to have World Champion Sebastien Loeb and his co driver Daniel Elena here on this Murphy Construction Cork 20 Rally. The Citroen crew turned on the style, setting a string of fastest times throughout the rally and only easing back on the final stage. Dani Sordo/Mark Marti were a solid 2nd on their first visit to an Irish rally which was quite an achievement. Dani was driving the second works Citroen, the older model Xsara. Mark Higgins and his co driver Rory Kennedy drove their Pirelli Subaru hard throughout and 3rd place was a terrific result but not enough to deny Eugene Donnelly & Paul Kiely in their Reid Motorsport Impreza WRC The Global Group Tarmac Championship title. Mikko Hirvonen in the M-Sport Ford Focus WRC was also on a learning curve in preparation for Rally Ireland. An early puncture cost them a podium place but it was still a fine result to finish 5th.
Colm Murphy backed off towards the end, but still won group N and finished 12th o/a. Colm and his co driver Ger Loughrey retain their Group N Tarmac title. As Colm eased back to preserve his GpN Impreza and make sure of a finish so Michael Barrable speeded up to come into the leaderboard and make it an all world rally car top 10. Owen Murphy unfortunately crashed his GpN lancer out on the penultimate stage. Kevin Kelleher was 2nd GpN, Alan Ring 3rd.
Phil Collins/Derek Brannigan have won the National Rally in their Escort from Terence O’Shaughnessy/Eugene McGrath in their Corolla. Tom Holton/Francis Kenny overcame an early accident to take 3rd in their Celica. Martin McCormack/Liam Moynihan had a brilliant run in their Escort to win the Historic Rally from Todd Falvey/Dan Barry in their Porsche 911. Jonny Greer/Jonny Hart won the Fiesta Sporting Trophy from Alastair Fisher/Barry McNulty. Alastair & Barry win the Irish Fiesta Championship after a tie break with Jonny, Alastair’s Galway result the tie decider.
As the strains of the French National Anthem drifted around the Radisson Hotel Sebastien Loeb brought his Citroen on to the finish ramp and said. “The feeling with the car is better. It was a bit wet in the morning of the first day but otherwise dry and we would have liked more wet but it was good”. It is all about preparation for Rally Ireland of course and Sebastien’s team mate Dani Sordo said. “I learned a lot”. Mikko Hirvonen said “Everything worked well and we were made very welcome here. The stages were fast and the weather was too dry but we learned a lot, glad we came”.
Mark Higgins reported a major moment towards the end when he braked too late for a 2 right into 4 left but otherwise he was glad to be on the pace and mixing it with the best. He said “Derek McGarrity has given us a very reliable car through the year, great support from Pirelli and we were very close to the title, just one poor result away earlier in the year”. Eugene Donnelly said “this is our 4th Tarmac Championship win and this one is as sweet as the first. It was a difficult year and Reid Motorsport stepped in to help when it all went right and then all went wrong in Galway. I am a little disappointed not to stay with Mark today, made a small mistake with the tyres and then there was no point.”
Finally for now our thanks to all who supported and helped with the Rally News service. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
