RALLY NEWS 9  Grandstand - Service - Friday 10.45

UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 19 CORNAA
1st (10) Jonny Milner/Nicky Beech (Corolla WRC) 2.01.33.6
2nd (14) Tapio Laukkanen/Ilka Riipinen (Imprezaa WRC) 2.02.09.2
3rd (12) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 2.06.08.9
4th (11) Derek McGarrity/Dermot O'Gorman (Impreza WRC) 2.07.29.7
5th (19) Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 2.08.38.5
6th (8) Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Impreza WRC) 2.08.45.8
7th (5) Ryan Champion/Cliff Simons (Ford Puma) 2.11.21.4
8th (21) Seamus Leonard/Paul McLaughlin (Impreza N) 2.11.55.6
9th (1) Garry Jennings/Gordon Noble (Peugeot) 2.14.14.3
10th (28) Paddy White/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 2.15.49.0

Through stages 18 and 19 Jonny Milner reversed the trend of Tapio's string of fastest stage times. In stage 18 Jonny was 0.3 of a second faster than Tapio and on stage 19 he was just under 4s faster.  Not a lot, but significant. Jonny said afterwards "We were pushing very hard, on the limit, the car felt good, we picked a slightly softer compound Pirelli and it gave me a little more confidence, we were able to go deeper into the corners. In a way it sets the tone for tomorrow" 

Tapio on the other hand said "Tomorrow is a new day, we will try and fix the manifold on the car now at the long service. Everything else on the car seems to be working well, its all very close".  Third placed Kenny McKinstry related when he made it into service "We didn't go well at all over the last couple of stages. Something happened to the clutch going off the line in Glenroy and I was so worried about it that I couldn't even hear the notes, for thinking of any harm I'd done. Then on the last stage I forgot to switch out of the road mode". 

Derek McGarrity in 4th is content to hold station, Tarmac Championship leader Derek on maximum points if he stays where he is. Behind him Eamonn Boland got ahead of Austin MacHale when the latter got a puncture in Cornaa. 

Seventh placed Ryan Champion continues to lead the Super 1600 catgegory in his Ford Puma, while his closest rival Garry Jennings has lost some more time with driveshaft/gearbox troubles. The Peugeot engineers changed Garry's box in 15 minutes two services ago - it looks like they may have to do the job all over again! Interestingly, Leon Pesticcio, although much further down the classification set a few fastest Super 1600 times this evening, and that was despite the Fiat Punto still having intermittent clutch trouble.  In all fairness though, Ryan Champion did say "In the nasty or tricky places we can afford to back off a bit now". 

Seamus Leonard continues to lead gpN.  Dickie Curran was 2nd but retired his Lancer at service after stage 17 because of transmission troubles. Aaron MacHale is now 2nd in gpN. George Tracey is into 3rd having got ahead of Dermot Hanafin, the latter with no experience of rallying in the dark, backed off a bit through stages 18 and 19. Paddy White has moved up the leaderboard all day and is now up to 10th, Paddy fortunate indeed not to lose any time when he damaged a front wheel in Cornaa.  John Cope in the Escort Cosworth is up to 11th having started the day 25th, John had a good clean run through today's stages but admits he couldn't get his head around Cornaa in the darkness.

Looking back - Adrian Kermode won the Historic Rally from Dessie Nutt, both in 911s. Dessie had been leading earlier but suffered a puncture. Martin Freestone won the Post Historics in his RS1600 from Richard Gower in a similar Ford. In the Land Rover section of the rally after stage 15 Jace Webster led from Anton Mitchell with Gary Mitchell 3rd.
The Ford Ka Rally Championship started this evening as part of the Trophy Rally - after the first couple of stages Scott Vogl led from Jonnie Wigmore with Jonny Brown 3rd, John Moffett 4th and David Crossen 5th.
More news in the morning. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON       www.rallynews.net