RALLY NEWS No.2 - Rathcormack Service - Saturday @ 20:07:15
RALLY NEWS NO.2 Rathcormac Service/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1
1st (9) Brian O'Mahony/John Higgins (Impreza WRC) 1.07.5
2nd (4) Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly (Fabia S2000) 1.08.1
3rd (3) Darragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC)) 1.10.2
4th (19) Kieran Daly/Darragh Mullen (Citroen C2R2) 1.11.6
5th (8) Colm Murphy/Don Montgomery (Impreza N) 1.12.8
6th (5) Garry Jennings/Liam Moynihan (Lancer N) 1.12.9
7th (6) Sam Moffett/James O'Reilly (Lancer N) 1.13.3
8th (27) Peter Barrable/Paddy Robinson (Citroen C2R”) 1.13.8
9th (15) David Armstrong/Damien Fleming (Escort) 1.14.6
10th (16) Paraic Cummins/Graham Kelly (Escort G3) 1.15.2
THE ABOVE IS A COMBINED LEADERBOARD FOR THE INTERNATIONAL & NATIONAL RUNNERS. They will be shown separately during the rest of the rally.
The difficult wet conditions in the floodlit spectator stage here at Rathcormac caught out the first two seeds in the main rally, Tim McNulty and Kevin Barrett. McNulty did a pirouette in his Subaru and his time was 1.17.4 while Kevin Barrett went slightly the wrong way at one point and his time was 1.23.2. This left Brian O’Mahony fastest which was quite a surprise as the Cork man has never really driven an Impreza WRC in anger before. Robert Barrable in the Skoda was 2nd fastest and said he had a good run. Darragh O’Riordan, 3rd fastest in the Scariff Plant Subaru described the stage as “so slippy”. Garry Jennings said about his run. “It was a disaster”. But he still set a good time. On the entry list Rory Kennedy is down to co-drive for Garry but in fact Rory is on holiday and Liam Moynihan is co-driving.
Alan Ring in the Munster Joinery Lancer said he got bogged down a bit in the stage, he reckoned he was in too high a gear. Brian O’Keefe recorded a time of 1.16.2. He reported that the dash of his Subaru fell down around his legs at one point.
Kieran Daly had a fantastic run in his Citroen C2R2 to head the Citroen Racing Trophy contenders. New Citroen Champion Scott McElhinney reported his car to be overheating slightly before the start and he was 3s down on Daly. Another driver worried about overheating was Joe Shrimpton. Joe McGonigle’s C2R2 was suffered from a slight misfire.
Some more times from the spectator stage: Raymond Conlon in his Corolla 1.17.7: James Coleman 1.19.4: John Hickey in the Evo 1.21.6. Fastest of the Historic category was Denis Moynihan in his Mk1 Escort who was 6s ahead of Thomas O’Brien in his Mini. Kevin Hickey failed to start the stage when his Mk1 Escort lost its ignition at the control.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
