1^st (2) Derek McGarrity/Chris Patterson (Impreza WRC) 51.46.9

2^nd (3) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 52.43.2

3^rd (7) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 52.58.2

4^th (1) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Impreza WRC) 53.03.1

5^th (4) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 53.20.2

6^th (9) Maurice Gass/Geoffrey Orr (Impreza WRC) 53.48.0

7^th (8) Tim McNulty/Anthony Nestor (Impreza WRC) 54.37.8

8^th (11) Roy White/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 55.13.0

9^th (12) Dickie Curran/Anthony Donnelly (Lancer N) 55.37.1

10^th (17) Shaun Gallagher/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 55.46.8

Derek McGarrity was fastest through stage 9, Arigna, to add to his fastest time through stage 8, Lough Bo. Derek remarking "We had a good clean run, although the stages are very gravelly." Behind Derek’s immaculate Pirelli backed yellow Impreza WRC many of the lead drivers report all sorts of problems. Andrew Nesbitt made a charge through stage 8, but that came to nothing on stage 9 when his Impreza WRC lost its turbo boost. Andrew commented "I drove the stage like I was in a 1300 Escort". Austin MacHale switched off the response on his Impreza through stage 9, trying to save the car as much as possible following the stage 8 oil fire. He had to put the fire out himself on the road section, and was 3 minutes late into stage 9, which incurs a 30s penalty. Eugene Donnelly is still going hard, but his Impreza is bottoming out slightly on the back suspension. Eamonn Boland had a poor enough stage 9, Eamonn saying it just didn’t click.

Maurice Gass reported his Impreza to have stalled on the start line of stage 9 and then had a huge overshoot in the stage, the Millview Fuels man saying "There seems to be something wrong with the car, its not handling and there’s not stopping her". Young Gareth Jones went off the road in Arigna, at the square left into the quarry towards the end of the stage, the car got beached and the Welsh youngster dropped approximately 9 minutes. He got the car out and is continuing. Tim McNulty was another with a poor time in stage 9 and says he just didn’t settle.

In Group N Roy White was fastest through stage 8, but Shaun Gallagher destroyed everyone in stage 9. Seamus Leonard dropped time with a blown turbo in his Subaru. Andrew Stewart has gearbox trouble in his Lancer and may be out of the race. Raymond Johnston lost a load of time with a massive overshoot at the gravelly junction just before the quarry. Seamus Leonard is now 11^th, 4^th in gpN. Raymond Johnston 12^th and 5^th in gpN.

Jaye Jordan, running inside the top 20 in his Escort Cosworth, reports all the brakes going to the back wheels and the car lapsing on to 3 cylinders. More news later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON