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RALLY NEWS NO.9 Mall/Armagh/Saturday/Noon
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 11 Mt Pleasant
1st (3) Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Impreza WRC) 1.15.06.6
2nd (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.16.57.4
3rd (5) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 1.19.00.2
4th (9) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 1.19.33.7
5th (10) Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 1.20.08.9
6th (14) Colm Murphy/Ger Loughrey (Impreza N) 1.21.37.1
7th (12) Seamus Leonard/Gerry McVeigh (Lancer N) 1.22.18.8
8th (17) Phillip & Simon Morrow (Lancer N) 1.23.10.6
9TH (26) James Cullen/Reba Graham (Lancer N) 1.23.56.2
10TH (34) John McGlaughlin/Crawford Henderson (Lancer N) 1.24.17.9
Kris Meeke wasn’t just as dominant through stages 10 and 11 as he
had been previously but he was still fastest and indeed on stage 11 he
was 10s faster than Eugene Donnelly, who in turn was 11s faster than Eamonn
Boland and Mark Higgins was 8s down on Eamonn. That is a fair indication
of how this Ulster Rally has settled. Certainly Higgins and Gwyndaf Evans
are having a great battle for group N supremacy, but out at the front
the time gaps are now huge.
Kris Meeke said when he came in here to Armagh regroup. “We were
marginal on tyre choice, but we could gone either way. I really concentrated
in there, braking in the middle of the road. I hadn’t a clue where
I was going, couldn’t remember a thing about the stage and I was
hanging on to every note. At 130mph the notes had better be right, they
were, its working well”. When Eugene Donnelly stopped to talk to
us it was almost like a re-enactment of a Greek tragedy without the blood
of course. The Tarmac Champion was so down. He said. “I’m
not enjoying it, its just not working. At the end of the day we’re
here, I suppose we’ll get the points. It’s a long time since
I’ve felt this bad on a rally. It is a while since I’ve been
2nd like this, but I don’t mind being 2nd if there’s a glimmer
of hope”.
Eamonn Boland in 3rd said. “We’re getting more used to the
Subaru on every stage, it’s a lovely car, going well”. Gwyndaf
Evans, 35s behind Mark Higgins but battling every mile of the way, said.
“the engineers have a different type of differential fitted, they
changed everything at the front as a precaution. The car is under steering
slightly and we’re having to be more careful on slow junctions”.
Mark Higgins commented. “We’re being careful in places, attacking
where possible. Its getting hard on the cars now, if we drove flat out
all day it would be very hard on the car, but its certainly going well”.
Colm Murphy continues to head the Tarmac C/ship gpN contenders. His co-driver
Ger Loughrey joking after those 3 stages. “The tyres are now past
their sell by date”. Colm himself said. “There was a pace
in there, over bridge into 5 right 5 left on to main road, and we changed
direction so quickly I think I’ve got whiplash!” Seamus Leonard
was looking slightly grim faced. He had dropped another 12s to Colm on
stage 11 and reckons his engine problem is getting more serious.
Phillip Morrow dropped probably over a minute through stages 10 and 11
following the damage caused by his small accident. Phillip said. “There
is no big damage, the intercooler seems alright its just that the pipe
has got damaged, we think there’s a slight hole in it and we’ve
been trying to patch it up with chewing gum”. James Cullen and John
McGlaughlin are having a good battle for 9th and 10th. Cullen in the 2nd
Reid Motorsport car was sweating hard when he finished stage 11 and said.
“We’re having a good dice, its going well”. John McGlaughlin
reported a flat tyre on the back right and John said. “The car’s
grand on straight roads its just the corners are a problem!” Rob
Swann is lying a few places outside the leaderboard and found stage 11
tricky although not as tricky as Damon Harvey whose GpN Subaru was badly
damaged but still going here at regroup. Damon said. “It was a fast
crest jump half way through the stage, the car landed in the grass and
spun through 360 and crashed. Its not what I planned at all!” Hugh
Martin Doherty has been battling on all morning in Super Rally but his
new Impreza WRC S12 has a very bad misfire, the engineers just can’t
get to the bottom of it and a very disillusioned Hugh Martin is thinking
of packing the fiddle.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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