UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 13 Meentagh

1^st (2) Andrew Nesbitt/James O'Brien (Impreza WRC) 1.20.37

2^nd (3) Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.21.23

3^rd (4) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 1.21.34

4^th (9) Paul Harris/John McCafferty (Impreza) 1.23.01

5^th (7) Peadar Hurson/Ian Porter (Impreza WRC) 1.23.19

6^th (8) Daniel & Michael Doherty (Impreza WRC) 1.23.39

7^th (5) Eamonn Boland/Damien Morrissey (Impreza WRC) 1.24.14

8^th (11) Seamus Leonard/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza N) 1.25.52

9^th (14) Roy White/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) .1.26.12

10^th (10) John Joe Fleming/Paul Goodman (Impreza WRC) 1.26.43

11^th (17) Garry Jennings/Gordon Noble (Peugeot 106) 1.26.48

12^th (19) Glenn Allen/John Gallagher (Escort WRC) 1.27.38

Massive crowds of spectators on the Knockalla stage have delayed the rally by almost one hour, but that didn’t stop Andrew Nesbitt from setting a scorching time of 9.40, as against Derek McGarrity on 9.46. Eugene Donnelly was 9.50. Nesbitt was fastest as well on the Fanad stage, 6s up on Donnelly, 10 on Derek. On stage 13 it was Donnelly who was fastest by 1s from McGarrity, Nesbitt a further 2 back. Andrew explained when he came into service "We drove at a nice steady pace, no heroics on that stage 13, there are a lot of big blind crests and walls." After setting fastest time Eugene Donnelly said "I was at a mental pace, crazy". Derek McGarrity commented about his performance "Wrong tyres for Fanad, too soft a compound. A 50 minute delay at the start of Knockall played right into my hands, the tyres were nice and cold, and its such a fast stage you are not working the tyres quite so hard". Daniel Doherty dropped 10s to Paul Harris on stage 13, and said "I threw away all my good work, had a spin and had to reverse". Peadar Hurson had 3^rd fastest time through stage 13, and said "I was nearly off the road three times".

Roy White reported a couple of very heavy landings in stage 13, he was 1s faster than Seamus Leonard, but Seamus is edging away overall in the group N lead. Dickie Curran was 3^rd in the Production category, and led the Tarmac points starting this Donegal Rally, but his Lancer has stopped with gearbox trouble.

Further retirements include young Gareth Jones. His Subaru engine had been giving trouble, so possibly it has given up the ghost on Fanad Head. James Cullen retired his Civic on Garrygort, and Frank Grimes (The CyberWorld Computerssupremo) towed James’ car out. It would appear that a sensor in the engine has perhaps broken.

Alan Nesbitt lost 10 minutes on Knockalla and explained "The exhaust broke on the car and I was afraid of maybe a fire breaking out, so I switched off the anti lag and tried to keep up the gears. The fumes were really bad and I went too hard into a 6 right and went clean off the road". Alan was coming into the top 10. Sean Devine was another having a good run but he had a puncture in stage 13 and dropped a minute, also held up Kevin Lynch in the process. JJ Fleming had a small engine fire after the Knockalla stage, but it hasn’t slowed his Impreza S8. Garry Jennings is still having some gear selector troubles, but still going amazingly well and leading his class. Some other class leaders – Philip Shaw leading cl.13 from Seamus Donnelly, both saying their engines are losing power at the top end. Conor Curley is 3^rd in that class, Robbie Peoples 4^th. Pat Bonar is leading cl.12 in his Escort and Paul Gallagher cl.11 in his Corolla. John Foley leads clo.7 in his Focus. John Hegarty now leads cl.2 in his Civic and Daniel Conaghan cl.9 in his Escort. More news later. BRIAN AND LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net