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RALLY NEWS NO.3 Sligo/Service/Friday/1.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5 Geevagh 2
1st (1) Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4) 40.44.3
2nd (2) Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Citroen C4) 40.48.7
3rd (4) Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Focus WRC) 41.23.3
4th (9) Jari Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Focus WRC) 41.34.9
5th (7) Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Impreza WRC) 42.03.3
6th (10) Henning Solberg/Goran Bergsten (Focus WRC) 42.09.9
7th (18) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Impreza WRC) 42.47.7
8th (5) Manfred Stohl/Iika Minor (Xsara WRC) 42.59.7
9th (19) Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Impreza WRC) 43.44.3
10th (16) Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (Focus WRC) 43.50.5
The drivers knew what to expect this time when they tackled a repeat of this morning’s 3 stages. Although the skies over Sligo are turning blue the roads were still wet and muddy and the drivers were much better prepared. Loeb’s attitude at stage finish was very much – “We play it safe, choose a wet tyre, now we have a job to do”. Sordo reported a spin at a hairpin but otherwise had a good run while Hirvonen was saying little, but very much the leading Ford driver 11s ahead of Latvala. Jari Matti said. “Now we know what to expect, yes it is slippy but that is the way. That is the way rallying should be”. Chris Atkinson is way down the order and without saying too much he seemed to be questioning the wisdom of continuing. Matthew Wilson felt that the event is not representative of Irish rallying. Gareth MacHale reported lots of fog and rain and said it wasn’t so bad.
Andreas Mikkelsen is running a little bit late in the order having lost time leaving service as the engineers tried to sort out the hydraulic gear change problem. Further news on Kris Meeke – he was very upset at stage finish and said. “The engine lost all power just over a kilometre into the stage, I’m at a loss to understand it. The car wouldn’t go over 50.” Eamonn Boland made his customary “Not a bother” remark at stage finish. Andrew Nesbitt described the fog as “serious, couldn’t see more than 2 car lengths”. Austin MacHale had an overshoot and lost 5s. Aaron MacHale said he couldn’t see a thing but at least the entire MacHale family is still going strong!
Tim McNulty in the Pierse Subaru said he had a good run and didn’t seem at all worried about the fog. Ray Breen overshot a square right and lost 15s. Kevin Barrett in the Triton Showers Subaru reported no difficulties. The position of the some of the top Irish drivers after stage 4: Andrew Nesbit was 26th: Ray Breen 27th: Gareth MacHale 29th: Kevin Barrett 37th: Darren Gass, the rear of his Subaru completely smashed in, was 40th: Phillip Morrow was down in 45th following his accident. Rory Byrne was doing quite well, 46th from his start position of 94 in the Modern Tyres Lancer.
In Group N Mark Higgins was leading from Andreas Aigner with Araugo 3rd to make it a Lancer top 3. Then it was the 2 Subarus of Kuzaj and Niall McShea. Richard Cathcart was next in group N, doing a great job from such a lowly start position, the muddy roads really penalising anyone down the field. Production World Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah was 28th o/a after stage 4 and then after stage 6 he commented. “This will be good experience for me for the future”. Niall McShea admitted that he went too hard early on and now he’s too cautious. Stuart Jones felt he made a good tyre choice for that 5th stage. Colm Murphy has a power steering leak and he was 32nd after stage 4. James Foley had slid his Lancer into a stage 5 ditch, kept the power on and pulled the car out but apart from body work damage there is some problem with the steering now, James may not continue.
Just outside the leaderboard after stage 5: Tim McNulty was 11th: Boland 12th: Mikkelsen 13th: Aaron MacHale 14th just ahead of his father Austin.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks to Michael Patterson & Andrew Kellitt)
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