| RALLY
NEWS NO.3 Carlisle/Service/Friday 10.45
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Glen Dhu
1st (5) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Lancer N) 29.20.1
2nd (4) Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 29.48.5
3RD (1) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Lancer N) 30.22.3
4TH (2) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 30.26.3
5TH (12) Robert Swann/Darren Garrod (Impreza N) 31.25.6
6TH (10) Wyn Humphreys/Ally Mackay (Impreza N) 31.31.9
7th (8) Connor McCloskey/Robbie Durant (Lancer N) 31.59.4
8th (7) Conrad Rautenbach/David Senior (Citroen C2) 32.28.4
9th (11) Karl & Guy Simmons (Impreza N) 32.45.6
10th (29) Andreas Siolander/Haken Jacobsson (Fiesta ST) 33.02.8
It was an interesting evening’s competition here on this Pirelli
International Rally with the drivers tackling several of the stages
in darkness or semi-darkness. As can be seen above guy Wilks has
a substantial overnight lead while there is major disappointment
for the Ulster contingent in that Phillip Morrow’s Lancer
has stopped at the side of the road in stage 4.
Guy Wilks took time out to tell us his thoughts. “28 seconds
is nothing up here, you can take a bit of a gamble or you can take
it as you see it, anything can happen. Its still pretty good to
have that lead, that opening loop of 4 stages that we did tonight
will be repeated tomorrow and they are sure to be rougher with lots
of stones pulled out following the passage of the other cars. We
got the differential map and the lights sorted out tonight and had
a really good run through the 3rd stage, but then on the 4th about
7 miles in, following a fast open section, the road went downhill
and tightened into a left and then a right and it was very loose.
I came off the brakes and got it pointing in the right direction,
switched off the engine and got going again, maybe losing 10s.”
Gwyndaf Evans in 2nd place said. “It was an interesting evening,
I was driving well in some sections, very amateurishly in others.
A six year old could have done better, I’ve made my notes
far too fast in places. I know where the time is going in the dark,
just little things like an overshoot in stage 3. I suppose its not
too bad to be 2nd”. Third placed Ryan Champion said. “The
suspension in the car was set a bit too hard and at times I felt
like a passenger but overall it went well”. Ryan’s co
driver Craig Thorley said “On that last stage, about a mile
in, on an uphill section into a big crest jump we did a 747 job
and I could see the flashlights going off underneath the car!”
Last year’s winner Mark Higgins was in despondent mood when
he brought his Impreza into service, lying a fairly distant 4th.
Mark had reported earlier clouting a rock at the start of stage
1 and knocking the steering and then stalling the car at a junction.
He then said here at service. “I’m not driving well,
its just not clicking and then when you lose confidence its just
like Galway, the times just don’t come. The Ash Park stage
was very worrying we were losing seconds a mile. The team has done
a great job with the car but at the same time is it just not sharp”.
Robert Swann in 5th place had a really good run over the first 2
stages and said that he was cautious over stages 3 and 4 and at
one point the marshals slowed him down and he couldn’t really
see why. Also there were many warning triangles at the sides of
the tracks, obviously a legacy from the historic rally. Wyn Humphreys
in 6th place had a small spin in stage 3 otherwise was well pleased
with his progress especially as this is the first rally together
for Wyn and co driver Ally Mackay.
Connor McCloskey in 7th lost time on the first stage with intercom
troubles, then in stage 3 had a middling run, but his stage 4 time
made up for that with a 5th quickest. Conrad Rautenbach in 8th was
well down in the dumps when he came into service, his Citroen C2
engine really off song over the last couple of stages which completely
negated a good run over the opening tests. James Wozencroft set
good times over stages 1 and 2 but then James cut a hairpin right
much too tight and damaged a track control arm causing the car to
handle a bit oddly for the remainder of the stage and also damaging
James’ confidence. Still, he is 16th o/a and 3rd in class,
just ahead of his Suzuki team mate Lorna Smith. Swedish driver Andreas
Siolander leads the class in his Fiesta from Vesa Mikkola in his
Civic. More news in the morning: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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