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RALLY NEWS NO.6 Skibbereen Service/Sunday 4.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 7 Mealagh Valley
1st (2) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 1.05.39
2nd (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Fabia WRC) 1.06.39
3rd (3) Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Impreza WRC) 1.07.03
4TH (10) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 1.07.47
5th (6) Ray Breen/Andrew Purcell (Focus WRC) 1.08.14
6th (20) Keith Cronin/Anthony O'Conaill (Lancer N) 1.09.07
7th (9) PJ McGrath/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.09.32
8th (11) James O'Sullivan/Brian Duggan (Impreza WRC) 1.10.12
9th (16) Kevin & Martin Kelleher (Lancer N) 1.10.28
10th (76) Owen Murphy/Don Montgomery (Lancer N) 1.11.31
11th (22) Kevin O'Donoghue/Joe O'Leary (Lancer) 1.11.39
For young Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen and his co driver Ola Floene today was a copybook performance in their Ramsport prepared Focus WRC to win this Fastnet Rally very conclusively. Eugene Donnelly and his co driver Paddy Toner put up a great performance considering it was their first time out in the Skoda Fabia but in overall terms they were a long way short of Mikkelsen’s pure speed in the difficult damp conditions. Tim McNulty, co driven by Eugene O’Donnell, was caught on the hop early in the rally and was never able to close to the gap on the leading cars. Indeed it was Denis Cronin who was 3rd early in the rally but then slipped to 4th when he was held up behind a slower car. He then lost some time on the final stage when his Subaru brake pedal started to vibrate.
Keith Cronin and his co driver Anthony O’Conail turned in a superb performance to win Group N in their Lancer although they also had some delays. Keith said afterwards that he thoroughly enjoyed the rally. Kevin and Martin Kelleher in the “Big Fella” Lancer gave Cronin a great run for GpN supremacy, were screwing everything out of the car at times but then lost some time on the final 2 stages with punctures.
Andreas Mikkelsen said at the finish. “I enjoyed it a lot, it was very good for me because the tarmac stages in Corsica and Spain are so different and I needed this experience for Rally Ireland. It was a very good rally here.” Eugene Donnelly recounted an overshoot on the penultimate stage on a fast slippy section into a square right and the car slithered through the tapes. Otherwise all things considered he had a good run and he said. “I’m happy with the car, it is very good on the tight stuff, the brakes are fantastic. We need to do some work on the differential mapping but its good”. Ray Breen in 5th had a good run and joked at the finish. “I need to throw away about 20 years!”
Jer O’Donovan had some fuel/crankshaft sensor problems with his Escort Cosworth and lost a little time at the end but still finished just outside the leaderboard. Anthony O’Halloran in his Manta, with Charlie McEnery on the notes, had a great run and won his class here on the rally and on the Dunlop series. Eyvind Brynildsen brought his Lancer safely into the finish and said. “For me it was very good experience but the engine is not so good now, we will fit a new one for Rally Ireland”. Damien Connolly was co driving for the 19 year old Norwegian. Damien normally co drives for Glenn Allen and they led the Dunlop championship earlier in the year and it looks like today’s run could bring Damien up to 2nd in the co drivers category on the Dunlop series. Finally for now well done to Michael O’Riordan and all the Skibbereen team for a great rally and many thanks to all who helped and supported the Rally News service. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
