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RALLY NEWS NO.9 Sligo/Service/Saturday 4.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 15 BALLINAMALLARD
1st (1) Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena (Citroen C4) 2.23.00.0
2nd (2) Dani Sordo/Marc Marti (Citroen C4) 2.24.00.2
3rd (9) Jari Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila (Focus WRC) 2.25.15.1
4th (4) Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen (Focus WRC) 2.25.40.6
5th (7) Petter Solberg/Phil Mills (Impreza WRC) 2.25.57.3
6th (18) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Impreza WRC) 2.28.46.1
7th (16) Matthew Wilson/Michael Orr (Focus WRC) 2.32.06.6
8th (20) Gareth MacHale/Allan Harryman (Focus WRC) 2.32.42.2
9th (21) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 2.34.14.8
10th (34) Mark Higgins/Scott Martin (Lancer N) 2.36.17.5
BREAKING NEWS: Mark Higgins reported accident. In field in stage 16 Tempo. Austin MacHale in field 150 yards away. (To be confirmed)
Chris Atkinson in his Subaru was fastest through stage 14, Sloughan Glen, even though he is 33rd o/a following his accident yesterday. Dani Sordo was 2nd fastest on that one and Sebastien Loeb 3rd fastest, just seconds between them. Then in stage 15, Ballinamallard, the finishing order was Loeb fastest: Atkinson 2nd fastest and Solberg 3rd fastest. Again there were just a few seconds between them. The Ballinamallard stage finished on the edge of the village, just beside the churchyard where Bertie Fisher and Mark & Emma are buried.
Loeb took a couple of seconds out to say. “That went fine. It is my favourite of the rally, the pressure is off now. There are lots of junctions where it would be easy to go on, but I thought I would have some fun and slide through. I really enjoy this”. When Chris Atkinson was quizzed about his fastest time and then 2nd fastest times he said. “I thought we could do it, there are some issues but I thought here we could do it and I wanted to try”. Dani Sordo said at stage finish that someone told him at the start of the stage that there was oil on the road and he went slowly, but didn’t see anything wrong. Latvala had a good run through Ballinamallard but was in a field for 30s on the Sloughan Glen test. Hirvonen’ s Focus finished the stage with huge chunks missing from the rear rims after going over some rocks in Sloughan Glen, and just the tyres were staying inflated was pretty amazing and testimony to the work of the mousse. Petter Solberg said he had a good run but it wasn’t easy with much standing water.
Guy Wilks spoke of being too cautious at a hairpin, he knew the exit was slippy, went gently in, hand braked, was too slow at getting the power on and the engine stalled. Gareth MacHale changed the suspension set up on his Focus, said it was a mistake going for softer springs, the car was rolling on corners like a boat. Aaron MacHale was keeping it all neat and tidy. Andreas Mikkelsen said his Focus was not yet 100 per cent but by next service probably will be. Austin MacHale said he wasn’t prepared to drive over standing water flat out in 6th gear.
In Group N Mark Higgins is struggling slightly, having suffered a puncture. He only dropped a few seconds and still leads overall but his shoulder is really giving him trouble. Araujo is 2nd Production. Niall McShea is trying really hard, regretting earlier mistakes and is right on the pace. So is Phillip Morrow who at last has had a clean run and was fastest GpN through Sloughan Glen and just 0.4 of a second down on Niall through Ballinamallard. Richard Cathcart is still on the pace. Colm Murphy is another to have speeded up having changed his Impreza suspension, went softer, and also deeper cuts in the tyres and is a lot happier. Nasser Al-Attiyah is also stepping up the pace, still being careful but wanting to see if he can get on the pace of the faster guys on asphalt.
Looking back a little – Tom Gormally had early punctures and dropped many minutes and has fought his way up to 3rd in his class. Andrew Mullen in the Sligo Pallets Saxo went off at a square right and was in a field for 2 minutes. His co driving wife Elaine is more worried about the 11 St.Bernard pups she has for sale! George Tracey is in a Focus WRC this time – he was also in a field and said he was testing the quality of the land, but also starting to enjoy his rallying for the first time in 4 years. Stuart Jones has retired, looks like a mechanical problem.
Roy White said about his new FESP MG S2000 “Such a fun wee piece of it to drive. Big drifts!” Emma McKinstry was another off in Sloughan Glen into a field. Noel McCarrick had several punctures yesterday but is getting into the way of his ex Eamonn Boland Focus WRC. James Foley re-mapped his Lancer to run on the pump fuel and said. “It feels like I’m pulling a trailer with four Charolais bullocks in it!”
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks to Michael Patterson & David Kingham)
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