{"id":6319,"date":"2019-10-09T10:40:18","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T10:40:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/?p=6319"},"modified":"2019-10-09T10:40:18","modified_gmt":"2019-10-09T10:40:18","slug":"irish-notes-9th-october-20109","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/?p=6319","title":{"rendered":"Irish Notes 9th October 20109"},"content":{"rendered":"

Close, oh so close, were the stage times on last weekend\u2019s long tough Wales Rally GB with Estonian Ott Tanak in his Yaris WRC coming out on top from Thierry Neuville (Hyundai), but only 10 seconds between them after the three and a bit days of rallying.\u00a0 World Rally Champion Sebastien Ogier in his Citroen was 3rd<\/sup>, a further 12 seconds back. Interestingly on this rally Tanak didn\u2019t set a huge number of fastest times. Both Neuville and Ogier had their fair share, Elfyn Evans had quite a few (7) after an unfortunate stage 3 puncture, and Kris Meeke was the man to beat in the early part of the rally, topping the time sheets. Inexorably though the NI man dropped out of contention as the pace stepped up and up.<\/p>\n

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What Ott Tanak and his co-driver Martin Jarveoja did do was stay consistent once they had taken the lead on the Friday evening. Even a damaged light pod through the Friday evening stages in darkness did not deter the Estonian too much. The icing on the cake for Tanak was winning the Brenig power stage for maximum bonus WRC points. Both Neuville and Ogier tried so very hard to reel in Tanak and keep their own World Rally Championship hopes alive. But it wasn\u2019t to be. It was quite stunning how, on stage after long treacherous stage, these top drivers were separated by just a second here and there. There are two rallies left in the series, so it isn\u2019t over as yet, but it will take something extraordinary to happen if Tanak is to be denied the 2019 World Driver\u2019s Crown.<\/p>\n

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A very happy Toyota Team at the end of Wales Rally GB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Kris Meeke eventually finished 4th<\/sup>, so possibly it was a slightly disappointing rally for him and his co-driver Seb Marshall having led for the first 9 stages. Elfyn Evans in his Fiesta WRC was 5th<\/sup>. The Welsh driver, just back from an injury enforced lay-off, was fastest in stage 2 Elsi. But then he dropped 40 seconds in stage 3 as his Fiesta suffered a puncture and possibly some suspension malady. Normally that 40 seconds wouldn\u2019t be the end of the world, but on this rally, despite the wet weather and muddy inconsistent roads, it was to prove too much to pull back, such was the unrelenting and metronome like huge pace at the front.<\/p>\n

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Elfyn was magnificent through the Saturday stages, on his \u2018home patch\u2019, but despite his heroics and bravery he could only pull back a second here and there because of the massive pace at the front. Andreas Mikkelsen (Hyundai) rounded off the top six. Pontus Tidemand (Fiesta WRC) was 7th<\/sup> and Craig Breen 8th<\/sup> in his Hyundai.<\/p>\n

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Craig Breen and Paul Nagle who finished Wales Rally GB in 8th place after recovering from a crash on Saturday which saw them drop over 5 minutes.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Craig had an up and down rally, dropping from a close 6th to a distant 9th<\/sup> in stage 12 Myherin when he crashed his Hyundai off the road on a left hand corner. Still, he did well to keep going, and that was despite a damaged windscreen and bodywork which made visibility for the Waterford man a bit tricky on the next stage. The talented young Finnish driver Kalle Rovanpera was 9th<\/sup> and won the R5 battle in his Skoda Fabia from the evergreen Petter Solberg in 10th<\/sup>, also in an R5, but in his case a VW.<\/p>\n

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Former World Rally Champion Petter, with Phil Mills alongside him once again, had a great rally. Often referred to as \u2018Mr Hollywood\u2019, Petter wowed the crowds with his opening performance on the Oulton Park spectator stage, recording a 3rd<\/sup> fastest overall time, beating most of the WRC cars\/drivers. It was a real Petter performance. Unfortunately matters did not go well for his son Oliver, reckoned to be a big chip off the old block. However Oliver\u2019s VW broke down on the Friday morning and then again on the Saturday morning. End of dream for the weekend. Well, not quite, he got going on the Sunday in \u2018Super Rally\u2019, set some decent times and then rolled his Polo.<\/p>\n

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Some drives of merit included that of Tom Cave \u2013 11th<\/sup> o\/a in his Hyundai and 3rd<\/sup> R5 in the finisher\u2019s list. \u00a0Cave and his co-driver Dale Furniss won the prestigious \u2018All Welsh\u2019 award as well as first privateer. Retirements included Latvala who crashed his Toyota in stage 7. \u00a0Just some other drivers who had to run in \u2018Super Rally\u2019 after encountering problems included British Rally Champion Matt Edwards, Mads Ostberg, Hayden Paddon and Esapekka Lappi.<\/p>\n

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Josh McErlean in action at Rally Wales GB – Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Local man Josh McErlean retired his Hyundai i20 R5 with a mechanical problem after setting some decent times on his first WRC event.\u00a0 \u00a0There were many more, a further indicator of just how tough and relentless the rally was.\u00a0 Eamonn Boland did make the finish as did Martin Brady.\u00a0 Martin was co-driving for Keanna Erickson-Chang in a Fiesta R2T19.\u00a0 Jan Solins won the RC4 class in his new model Fiesta R2T.\u00a0 Ruari Bell completed the course in Super Rally in his Fiesta R2T.<\/p>\n

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Even one of the stages couldn\u2019t run because of the weather. Great Orme was cancelled due to \u2018rough sea conditions, preventing the safety diving team from getting into position!\u2019 Surely that has to be first!<\/p>\n

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In the Wales Rally GB National part of the event held over 8 stages, John Wink\/Neil Shanks in a Hyundai R5 came out on top, finishing 1m30s ahead of Dylan Davies\/Llion \u00a0Williams in their Impreza. Alan Dickson\/Martin Forrest (Lancer) were 3rd<\/sup>.<\/p>\n

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Closer to home Harry and Chris Johnston in their MX5 won the Larne Club\u2019s Autodock Laharna Lanes Rally. Brendan Mooney\/Padraig Macatamney were 2nd<\/sup> and Mark Francis\/Adam Hilditch were 3rd<\/sup>, to make it a Mazda MX-5 clean sweep. In MG Club\u2019s Production Car Trial at Erwin\u2019s farm in Cunningburn, Bailie Thompson and Will Thompson were the top two in their Corsa, with young Zak Armstrong 3rd<\/sup> in his granddad Michael\u2019s Rover.<\/p>\n

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This weekend coming we have the Donegal Harvest as well as the Tour of Mull. The Redcastle based event has attracted over 130 entries, with Donagh Kelly\/Conor Foley topping the list in the new VW Polo GTI R5. This will be Donagh\u2019s first competitive outing in the car. Muff man Joe McGonigle will be more or less on home ground on this event and he is seeded at 2 in a Fiesta WRC with Ciaran Geaney co-driving. Callum Devine, following his disappointment at retiring from the lead of the recent Cork \u201820\u2019 is seeded at 3. Brian Hoy co-drives in Callum\u2019s Fiesta R5. Seamus Leonard makes a comeback and starts at 4, with Paul McLaughlin co-driving in a Focus WRC. Next up are 5 two wheel drive cars, to be driven by Kevin Eves, Kevin Gallagher, Damien Gallagher, Damien Toner and Camillus Bradley. Aaron McLaughlin in a Fiesta R5 rounds off the top ten. \u00a0Tony Boyle is the CoC and he has laid on an interesting loop of three stages to be run three times this Saturday.<\/p>\n

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Entries for the forthcoming MJE Wheel Repair Tyrone Stages Rally (19th<\/sup> October) continue to build. This Cookstown MC organised event is the penultimate round of the McGrady Insurance NI Championship. Former multiple NI Rally Champion Derek McGarrity has now entered, this time in a Skoda Fabia \u00a0WRC in place of the Fiesta WRC he has been driving this year. As well as McGarrity and current NI Points leader Derek McGeehan (Mini WRC), just some of the top names entered who are in with a chance of the title include Desi Henry (Fiesta WRC) and Stephen Wright (Fiesta R5). Other top drivers who have entered include Martin McKenna (Subaru Impreza WRC) and Gareth Sayers (Fiesta R5).<\/p>\n

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We said above that Kalle Rovanpera won the R5 battle on Wales Rally GB. \u00a0As we mentioned before the R5 class is confusingly split into two on the WRC. \u00a0Kalle won \u2018WRC2 PRO\u2019 with his 9th<\/sup> o\/a and also tied up the category in the WRC Championship. Petter Solberg won WRC2 by finishing 10th<\/sup> o\/a. All a little confusing, but reportedly the FIA has put in a new R5 category system for next season. The next WRC round this year is the Spanish counter on the 24th<\/sup> \u2013 27th<\/sup> October. The driver points position at the top of the list is Tanak 240, Ogier 212 and Neuville 199.<\/p>\n

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Regards, Brian, Liz & Michael Patterson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Close, oh so close, were the stage times on last weekend\u2019s long tough Wales Rally GB with Estonian Ott Tanak…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rallynews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6319"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6320,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6319\/revisions\/6320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rallynews.net\/pattersonpacenotes\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}