Rally News No.5 Limavady Service Sat 3.15pm

Unofficial Leaderboard After Stage 8

1^st (10) Kevin Lynch/Martin McNicholl (Impreza WRC) 41.36

2^nd (4) Glenn Allen/John Gallagher (Escort WRC) 41.59

3^rd (2) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Celica) 42.04

4^th (5) Richard Hogg/Mark Hanna (Lancer N) 42.53

5^th (7) Dermott Kelly/John Brennan (Escort WRC) 42.58

6^th (18) Raymond Johnson/Richard Bell (Lancer N) 43.09

7^th (11) Kieran Shaw/Crawford Henderson (Escort WRC) 43.11

8^th (17) Sean Devine/Damien Duffin (Impreza N) 43.27

9^th (6) Kevin O’Kane/Francis Regan (Impreza) 43.33

10^th (1) Denis Biggerstaff/Derek Brannigan (Metro 6R4) 43.37

11^th (24) Keith White/David Lyness (Escort) 44.00

The above leaderboard is very provisional, in particular the total for Glenn Allen. We have given Glenn a nominal time for stage 8 as the time on his card is misleading.

All the top drivers reported a clean run through stages seven and eight. Denis Biggerstaff is now much happier with his 6R4, and has started to climb the leaderboard, the Dromara driver reckons that he was going hard but wasn’t standing on the car. Eugene Donnelly thinks his Celica has never been better and was equal fastest with Kevin Lynch through stage eight clawing a few seconds back from Glenn Allen. Rally leader Kevin Lynch continues to impress with his pace. Fastest again through Springwell but this time only four seconds quicker than Eugene Donnelly, but increasing his lead to 23 seconds with only two stages remaining.

As the rally moves into new territory with two new tests in Loughermore Forest some fascinating battles are developing. Eugene Donnelly is now only five seconds down on Glenn Allen. Kieran Shaw has dropped from fourth to eighth following a 20 second road penalty, incurred when leaving service earlier after fixing their brake problem. This gives an indication of how close things are.

Raymond Mason has dropped off the leaderboard following his car cutting out, but wasn’t affected so badly over stages seven and eight as they were not so long. Sean Devine continues a trouble free run in second place in GpN while Richard Hogg has turned up the wick and admits to trying a lot harder in his Lancer. Maybe it is a good omen for rally leader Kevin Lynch, but co driver Martin McNicholl tells us that they got a puncture on the road section into service – how lucky is that? More News Later Michael Patterson & Zoe Todd