UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 10
1st
(3) Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy (Impreza WRC) 1.10.25.1
2nd
(4) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 1.10.37.8
3rd
(12) Tony Davies/Jakes Kelly (Impreza WRC) 1.11.37.9
4th
(8) Steve Fleck/Mark Aspinall (Impreza WRC) 1.11.58.4
5th
(11) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 1.12.26.9
6th
(24) Ashley Field/Janice Hooley (Darrian) 1.12.41.8
7th
(7) Bob Fowden/Jerry Hynes (Impreza WRC) 1.13.06.7
8th
(9) Nigel Hicklin/Sam McMullan (Octavia WRC) 1.13.55.9
9th
(15) James O'Sullivan/Kieran O'Callaghan (Lancer N) 1.14.00.6
10th
(6) JJ Fleming/Robbie Ward (Focus WRC) 1.14.12.8
Liam
McCarthy was fastest through the opening 2 tests this morning,
Ardfield and Sam’s Cross. He was 6s up on Denis Cronin in
Ardfield and 7s up on Sam’s Cross. This answers the big overnight
question of how Liam’s Subaru engine would perform this morning
after yesterday’s over heating and down on power dramas. He
commented here at service. “The temperature looks reasonably OK
this morning, we’re running it in “safe mode”. At this pressure,
this speed, hopefully it will be alright. The tyres are working
better today, I’d really like to jog it along now, but I really
have to be careful”. Denis Cronin said. “I know I was slow to
start as usual, and Ardfield doesn’t really suit the older car so
well, too many junctions, the second stage should have been
better, closer, but maybe I just didn’t get warmed up enough”.
In the
battle for 3rd place Tony Davies would appear to have
the edge over Steve Fleck. Tony also saying that he has used the
same tyres from the start of the rally, so maybe its time to fit
new ones!
John
Dalton got ahead of Ashley Field in the race of the 2 Darrians for
5th and 6th, Field admitting that he lost
his flow through stage 9, where he dropped a cool 14s to Dalton.
Stage 10 was better for Field but he still dropped 5s to Dalton.
Bob
Fowden held on to his overnight 7th place, but the
Welshman was desperately unhappy when he arrived into service,
saying. “This car is virtually undriveable; I’ve tried everything
with the set up but it is still all over the place.” Fowden’s
Impreza seems to be a group A/N type car with WRC type running
gear. JJ Fleming dropped 2 places on the leaderboard. He
was starting stage 9 when he suddenly realised he hadn’t connected
up his intercom, and lost quite a bit of time fiddling about
hooking up the wire.
James
O’Sullivan continues to lead Group N, the 023 Tiles man saying
that he is pouring that much Ballygowan into the radiator between
stages, it is costing him more than the fuel! Still, he is leading
GpN fairly conclusively. His closest pursuers Mark Morgan and
Kevin Kelleher a fair bit slower through this morning’s 2 stages.
PJ McGarth was 4th gpN and 15th o/a, but he
has crashed his Impreza on a narrow section of stage 10, blocking
the road. Our understanding is that there was no great damage, but
the front wheels were splayed and the car wouldn’t move. Gwyndaf
Evans was first on the scene, and he stopped to help, losing a lot
of time in the process. Presumably Gwyndaf and the following
competitors will receive a scratch time. Gwyndaf continues to lead
his class and we reckon is now 15 o/a. Nigel Hicklin had a good
run this morning, set a couple of good times to move up the order
slightly. George Thaw also set a couple of good times. He hasn’t
been in a rally car for about 18 months, was a bit rusty
yesterday, but coming good today. Unofficially we have Willie
Power 11th and George Thaw 12th. Mark Morgan
13th and young Kevin Kelleher 15th, on his
first run in a GpN Lancer. Gabriel Martin is just outside the
leading bunch in his GpN Impreza, he has been slowed this morning
by a broken engine mounting. Peter Lloyd had a good run in his
Impreza. It is interesting to see an old twin cam Corolla running
with the top cars - Tim O’Donovan/Sean Head are now 20th
o/a and leading their class by such a margin that they are
concentrating now on just getting to the finish.
More news
later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
