| RALLY
NEWS NO.5
Millstreet/Service/Saturday 1.30
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 5 Doon Bridge
1st (7) Kris Meeke/Jonas Andersson (Impreza WRC) 37.42.6
2nd (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 37.43.5
3rd (5) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Focus WRC) 38.10.8
4th (9) Kevin Lynch/David Moynihan (Focus WRC) 38.11.2
5th (1) Gareth MacHale/Paul Nagle (Focus WRC) 38.13.7
6th (3) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 38.18.4
7th (14) Stephen Murphy/M J Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 39.12.4
8th (8) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 39.20.4
9th (2) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza WRC) 39.24.1
10th (15) Patrick Elliott/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 39.26.9
11th (17) Aaron MacHale/Derek Brannigan (Focus WRC) 40.18.7
12th (12) Melvyn Evans/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 40.41.5
Kris Meeke and his Swedish co-driver Jonas Andersson were fastest through
stage 4 of this Ordnance Survey/Gleneagle Hotel Killarney Rally of the
Lakes, but they had to give best to Eugene Donnelly through stage 5 although
by a scant 0.1 of a second. Andreas Mikkelsen has done a brilliant
job to get back into 3rd place, just a fraction ahead of Kevin Lynch and
with Gareth MacHale and Tim McNulty just seconds behind. There is
virtually nothing in the times, it is very close. One top driver
no longer on the leaderboard is Eamonn Boland, his Focus WRC reportedly
stopped at the road side in stage 4. This has still to be confirmed.
Kris Meeke said. “Part of the reason it is so close over the last
few stages is that the roads are very fast and there are a lot of the
bits where there is just nowhere to make up any time”. Eugene
Donnelly said. “Getting used to the grip level on these new tyres
is fantastic – great fun – don’t know where the limit
is and there have been corners where I have said to Paul that I’ve
messed up, could have gone harder”. In relation to the earlier
incident where he lost a few seconds and the lead when the got stuck behind
the puncture stricken Higgins, Eugene said. “It wasn’t his
fault, it was very fast and narrow, there was nowhere to pull in and if
he had pulled in I might have lost more time.”
Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen has pulled back brilliantly following
his stage 2 accident and he said. “I have found the steady pace
now, and I must get to the finish”. Kevin Lynch has really
pushed on over the last few stages, the Dungiven contractor saying however
“We’ve done nothing out of the ordinary, just getting a bit
more out of the car with a bit more right foot on the accelerator. The
set up seems good now”. Gareth MacHale in 5th told us. “I
picked a medium to hard tyre, but I should have gone for the hardest one,
it’s a big pace out there, anything can still happen”.
Tim McNulty seems to have lost a bit of his momentum following his delay
behind Higgins and he said. “We were behind him for a while it was
through 2 chicanes, and then I had an overshoot on that last stage, the
last square left before the finish, but its OK. I’m determined to
be on that podium at the finish!”
Further stories include – Stephen Murphy slowed slightly when he
caught Gareth Jones. Jones was slowed with intercom and gearbox troubles.
Austin MacHale has got his intercoms sorted and is going well. Mark
Higgins has been pushing on following his stage 3 puncture, but having
said that the flat wheel seems to have caused some damage to a front damper
which is thumping and banging under braking, so Mark is being a little
bit careful. Patrick Elliott says he is not going “wicked”
at the moment, could go quicker and is happy enough to be on the leaderboard.
Melvyn Evans is getting his confidence back after earlier tyre problems.
Aaron MacHale is speeding up following his earlier turbo pipe troubles.
JJ Fleming is in 14th and survived a big overshoot in stage 5, his Focus
undamaged.
Colm Murphy continues to lead Group N despite a few spins when showing
off to the cameras! The GpN positions behind Colm are a little bit
unclear at the moment as James Foley crashed his Lancer in stage 5, fortunately
without any injuries, but several of the following drivers stopped to
make sure everything was Ok and they will almost certainly receive “interrupted
times”. More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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