RALLY NEWS NO.8 Finish/Silver Springs Hotel Cork/Sunday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 14 – FINAL STAGE
1st (3) Darragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 1.29.23,9
2nd (1) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.30.08.1
3rd (5) Garry Jennings/Liam Moynihan (Lancer N) 1.31.42.0
4th (2) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 1.33.17.9
5th (7) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 1.35.08.0
6th (10) Willie Mavitty/John Rowan (Lancer N) 1.38.14.5
7th (68) Eugene Meegan/Brian Sharkey (Lancer N) 1.39.33.6
8th (28) David Carney/Raymond Fitzpatrick (Citroen C2R2) 1.40.22.3
9th (26) Joe McGonigle/Aiden Friel (Citroen C2R2) 1.41.35.7
10th (12) Brian O'Keefe/Donnacha O'Callaghan (Impreza N) 1.41.50.8
NATIONAL RALLY
1st (30) Jason Ryan/Tadgh O’Sullivan (Civic) 1.39.50.9
2nd (15) David Armstrong/Damien Fleming (Escort) 1.40.50.9
3rd (25) Alan Treacy/Bon Fitzgerald (Corolla) 1.41.13.1
4th (24) Charlie & Johnny Hickey (Escort) 1.42.54.2
5th (42) James Fitzgerald/Eoin Fitzgerald (Civic) 1.45.26.7
6th (51) Ian Chadwick/Stephen Quinn (Peugeot) 1.45.30.2
Darragh O’Riordan powered his Subaru through the final 2 stages of this Orchard Motorsport Cork 20 International Rally to set fastest times and win the rally by 45s from Tim McNulty in his similar Impreza. For 28 year old Darragh it is a real red-letter day, the first Cork man to win here for 25 years. The last Cork man to win was Billy Coleman in his Metro 6R4 in 1986. For Tim McNulty it was pretty special as well, as 2nd place was enough to clinch the Tarmac Championship title for this year. Tim has the unique distinction of also winning the National Rally title this year. Darragh O’Riordan was co-driven by Tony McDaid and this is their 2nd International win this year, the first being the Killarney Rally of the Lakes. For McNulty it has been the most successful season of his career, while his co-driver Paul Kiely has tasted the Tarmac Championship champagne 4 times in the past.
Garry Jennings’ 3rd place o/a and first in Group N also clinches the Production GpN category for the Fermanagh man in the Tarmac C/ship. Alan Ring & Adrian Deasy were 2nd in GpN today and also runners-up in the GpN Tarmac series. Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally had a very solid run today to finish 4th but have slipped to 3rd in the Tarmac C/ship having led the series for a large part of the season. Youghal man Jason Ryan with Tadgh O’Sullivan co-driving had a brilliant run in his Civic to win the National category of the rally from David Armstrong/Damien Fleming. In the Junior category with 1 stage to go Daniel Cronin in his Peugeot was 1s ahead of Bernard Foley (Civic) with Pat Barry (Civic) a further 21s back in 3rd. David Carney won the Citroen Racing Trophy contenders on the rally and Scott McElhinney has won the Citroen Racing Trophy 2011 C/ship.
Finally for now our thanks to all the people who supported and helped with the RallyNews service. Very well done to Clerk of the Course Colman Hegarty and his wife Kathlyn as well as all his hard working team from the Munster Car Club and those from further afield who put on what was a really good rally in very difficult conditions. Our thanks also to Dougie Hughes: Angus Sealy and Daphne Millar & Mossie.
