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RALLY NEWS NO.1 Sligo/Friday/10am
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 ARIGNA
1st (1) Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4) 23.24.9
2nd (2) Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Citroen C4) 23.25.4
3rd (3) Marcus Gronholm/Timo Rautiainen (Focus WRC) 23.28.9
4th (4) Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Focus WRC) 23.44.0
5th (9) Jari Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Focus WRC) 23.59.7
6th (8) Chris Atkinson/Stephan Prevot (Impreza WRC) 24.01.2
BREAKING NEWS: GRONHOLM crashed a couple of miles from the end of Arigna. Yellow flags are up. Atkinson and Pons reportedly also in trouble.
Following the showcase Super Special stage at Stormont last night where Marcus Gronholm topped the time sheets from Sebastien Loeb with Kris Meeke a splendid 3rd, it was knuckle down time this morning to the tough special stages through the Sligo/Leitrim countryside. The first stage this morning was the 11.48km Geevagh stage followed by the 27.90km Arigna test.
Sebastien Loeb wax fastest through that Geevagh test from his Citroen team mate Dani Sordo with Marcus Gronholm 3rd. Niall McShea was fastest of the Production category from Aigner. Aigner was fastest Production car through the Stormont Super Special last night with current Production World Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah 2nd fastest in his Autotek prepared Subaru Impreza.
After the Geevagh test Gronholm commented. “It was OK, we were on slick tyres, not ideal because it was wet and slippy but it should be better for the next stage”. Sebastien Loeb looked worried and said that a pipe to the rear suspension reservoir had broken and that he found the stage very bumpy. He was concerned about getting the car through the next couple of stages to service. Chris Atkinson found the visibility very poor, very misty. The Australian was the first of many drivers to report that the road was getting “worse and worse with mud getting pulled out and very slippy”. Petter Solberg was shaking his head as he spoke of a bad engine misfire. His co driver Phil Mills when asked had they lost much time said. “Quite a lot”.
Henning Solberg felt he had a good run, and everything was working well between himself and his new co driver Goran Bergsten. Matthew Wilson said. “The road is destroyed, there is mud everywhere”. Kris Meeke struggled a little, very ambitious in his tyre choice and is worried as well about catching Khalid Qassimi in the Focus in front. Gareth MacHale had a spin jut before the forest section and lost quite a few seconds.
Phillip Morrow had slight damage to the left side of his Lancer, had sustained a puncture and nudged a bank and was another to report the stage so muddy. Guy Wilks felt he had a long wait at the stage start and his tyres had gone cold which made life difficult. Andreas Mikkelsen joked. “That was a little bit different to Corsica!”
Eugene Donnelly found the Skoda to be under powered on that Geevagh stage and he was quite a few seconds down on the quicker times. We are getting unofficial news in that Eugene has stopped in the Arigna stage. Conor Byrne in the Modern Tyre Services Lancer had also reported that Brian O’Mahony’s Clio has stopped in Geevagh and that Brian has the OK board up. Andrew Nesbitt said it was a great forest stage and he also reckoned that his front differential was giving trouble.
Tim McNulty in the Pierse backed Subaru had no intercom after the first couple of miles of the stage. Roy White in the FESP MG S2000 had no brakes by stage finish. Kevin Barrett reported all well but said he was struggling with the conditions. Mark Higgins said he was working so hard through the stage in the difficult conditions that he forgot all about his injured shoulder.
Niall McShea said the stage was tricky but OK and he did not push. He reckons that the drivers who are cutting corners will sooner or later end up in trouble. Andreas Aigner who is going so well in the Production category said he made a good tyre choice and is being careful. Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah found the stage very difficult and tough but is going OK. Richard Cathcart is running further back and despite catching and passing Peter McCullagh set a great time. Andrew Mullen in the Sligo Pallets Citroen said. The money that the top drivers earn, they deserve it, this is the toughest ever I’ve seen”. Andrew went on to say that there seems to be something loose in his Saxo wheels, otherwise OK. More news on Eugene Donnelly – stopped with a broken drive shaft.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks to Michael Patterson)
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