| RALLY NEWS NO.10 Sligo Service/Saturday 6pm
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 16 Tempo
1st (1) Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4) 2.30.35.2
2nd (2) Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Citroen C4) 2.31.34.5
3rd (9) Jari Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Focus WRC) 2.32.44.0
4th (4) Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Focus WRC) 2.33.12.8
5th (7) Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Impreza WRC) 2.33.28.4
6th (18) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Impreza WRC) 2.36.27.2
7th (16) Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (Focus WRC) 2.39.58.5
8th (20) Gareth MacHale/Allan Harryman (Focus WRC) 2.40.42.9
9th (21) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 2.43.36.5
10th (46) Armindo Araujo/Miguel Lamalho (Lancer N) 2.45.04.9
Jari-Matti Latvala was fastest through stage 16 by 2.2s from Petter Solberg with Mikko Hirvonen a further 1s back. Dani Sordo was 4th fastest and Sebastien Loeb 5th fastest, driving now with great caution.
The breaking story on the last Rally News was that Mark Higgins had put his Impreza into a field to blow his Production lead and almost certainly relinquish any chance of winning the Production World Championship. Austin MacHale was also off the road and the word from the former Tarmac Champion is that he will compete in Super Rally tomorrow. It was quite a shame that Austin went off as it has been quite remarkable to have three of the MacHale family running in the top 15 through this major event. A suspension strut on Austin’s Focus was reportedly damaged over big jumps and the car went off the road shortly afterwards. Mark Higgins went off on a right hander with camber where it was advisable not to run wide and his Impreza ran out of road.
Sebastien Loeb’s co driver Daniel Elena reported a lot of water and heavy rain through stage 16, they were braking early and safe in the muddy places. Dani Sordo was very withdrawn when he reached service but said everything was OK. Chris Atkinson commented. “I love these fast and bumpy stages, it is interesting and exciting”. The crowds lining the control area all called for Petter Solberg to come and sign autographs, which he duly did. It was real adoration. His co driver Phil Mills said. “We’re 16s behind Mikko Hirvonen, lets see what we can do tomorrow. The car is a big step forward”. Jari-Matti Latvala had a small problem with his spot lights on that last stage, his co driver Miikka Anttila joking that that is why they went so fast, they couldn’t see where they were going! Guy Wilks had a decent enough run towards the end, Guy the best placed British driver and genuinely disappointed that Kris Meeke didn’t have a good run and a good race. Matthew Wilson reported torrential rain on the last stage, wipers on full blast and couldn’t really cope with the downpour. Matthew said. “It was awesome aquaplaning over some of the crests”.
Four times Portuguese Rally Champion Armindo Araujo now leads the Production category with Niall McShea still piling on the pressure in 2nd. Niall was fastest Production driver on stage 16. Gabriel Pozzo is 3rd, not that far away from McShea. Current Production World Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah from Qatar spun his Autotek Subaru in stage 16 but dropped little time, he is 4th in Production category and 17th o/a. Richard Cathcart is 15th o/a and still setting some stunning times in his GpN Lancer. Richard was actually the fastest group N car ahead of Niall but is not registered in PWRC. Phillip Morrow is 6th in Production category and set a 3rd fastest Production time in the Tempo stage.
A couple of stages ago Finn McCaul in his BMW was leading the Diesel category from John Mulholland in his Skoda with Mulholland clawing back time. Jarlath Barry has no 1st or 6th gear in his Honda Civic but is battling on. Michael Murray went off the road for 5 minutes in his Lancer and was helped back on by spectators. Adrian McElhinney is leading his class despite going off the road on a square right in stage 12. Emma McKinstry was another off the road in stage 12 when she overshot a square right and landed on top of a gatepost. Sean Devine lost time when the wipers stopped working in his Impreza WRC, which was hardly surprising as the bonnet had just blown up and smashed the windscreen! Brian O’Mahony was relegated to Super Rally when a small radiator, not the main one, burst on his Renault Clio. More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *For SMS results and news to your mobile TEXT RALLY ITC to 60066 (UK): 53030 (Irl): Cost 25p/30c |
