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RALLY NEWS NO.3 Skibbereen Service/Sunday 11 am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 2 Mount Kid
1st (2) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 14.27
2nd (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Fabia WRC) 14.58
3rd (10) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 15.01
4th (3) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 15.05
5th (6) Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Focus WRC) 15.14
6th (20) Keith Cronin/Anthony O'Conaill (Lancer N) 15.27
7th (9) PJ McGrath/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 15.29
8th (16) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 15.41
9th (76) Owen Murphy/Don Montgomery (Lancer N) 15.50
10th (11) James O'Sullivan/Brian Duggan (Impreza WRC) 15.56
11th (7) Kevin Barrett/Barry Goodman (Impreza WRC) 16.06
(22) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Lancer) 16.06
Andreas Mikkelsen was stunningly fast through the 2nd stage, 20s up on next best Eugene Donnelly. Melvyn Evans had been 6th after the first stage but his Subaru stopped half way through the 20km Mount Kid test with steam coming out from under the bonnet.
“It was more slippy the second stage. I backed off a little but no problems” that was Andreas Mikkelsen’s comment when he arrived in here to service. Eugene Donnelly told us “The car is good, I like it. But it is very under powered compared to the Subaru, but then it’s not the price of a Subaru either”. The Tarmac Champion continued. “In 1st and 2nd gear it is good but then up the gears you notice a difference. I am pleased with the Skoda, it turns in well, handles very well, but I’m not surprised that Andreas took 20s out of us on that stage”. Tim McNulty reported “I’m taking it steady, nothing mad, still adjusting the diff settings and the mapping. Yes, the car is good but I’m taking no chances”. Third placed Denis Cronin has really found his form again this weekend and said. “We had a great run with the Subaru on Healy Pass earlier this week. The car feels so good now. I’m thinking I’m going slow!”
PJ McGrath found the shiny tar very slippy. Ray Breen is having a good run although he only did two passes on the recce as a warm up for Rally Ireland. James O’Sullivan had a huge moment over gravel half way through Mount Kid. Eoin Doyle is struggling for grip reckoned his tyres just weren’t working. Gareth Jones managed to get going after his stage 1 incident but was slow through stage 2, something broken on his Focus and he held up Keith Cronin. Having said that Cronin still had a fantastic time to move into the group N lead. Kevin Kelleher is 2nd in Group N and reckons he needs more commitment, that there’s more to come. Owen Murphy had a good run, but his time was spoiled by one overshoot. Willie Fannin reckoned his GpN Impreza is too stiff and is bouncing about. Willie’s main aim today is to keep ahead of Ian Barrett in the race for our runner up spot in the GpN Dunlop National series. Ian played right into Willie’s hands when he spun the car on Mt Kidd and got stuck. 19 year old Norwegian driver Eyvind Brynildsen is struggling a little to judge the grip on these stages and he is being very cautious, his total now 16.16.
The two wheel drive cars were held up behind Alan Ring’s accident on stage 1 and therefore some of them received a scratch time which has distorted the picture a little. Gerry Cassidy is now showing a total of 16.19: Trevor Mulligan 16.32: Wesley Patterson 16.42: Anthony O’Halloran 16.48. Tadgh Linehan has retired his BMW M3 with a mechanical problem.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
