UNOFFICIAL INTERNATIONAL L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 14
1st (3) Juho Hanninen/Mikko Markkula (Fabia S2000) 1.44.11.1
2nd (1) Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Fabia S2000) 1.44.54.5
3rd (2) Jan Kopecky/Pavel Dresler (Fabia S2000) 1.45.49.8
4th (9) Mathieu Arzeno/Renoul Jamoul (207 S2000) 1.48.06.1
5th (4) Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (207 S2000) 1.48.57.6
6th (7) Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly (Fabia S2000) 1.49.18.0
7th Wiegand 1.49.57.9: 8th Jennings 1.51.50.7: 9th S. Moffett 1.52.52.9: 10th D. Kelly 1.53.00.0
The Lisburn Power Stage provided an unexpected drama when IRC Champion Andreas Mikkelsen crunched his Skoda very hard into a straw bale. The bodywork was damaged, Andreas was left dizzy and most important of all for Andreas he had dropped over 40s to his rival Hanninen. Hanninen led the rally by 2s going into the Lisburn stages and emerged with a 43s lead. The action then moved to Banbridge. Heavy rain before the stage left the roads wet and Mikkelsen was faster than Hanninen by 0.4 of a second but realistically victory here on the Circuit of Ireland would appear to be outside Mikkelsen’s grasp. Indeed, the Norwegian admitted as such as stage finish when he intimated that he would probably settle for 2nd place despite one 25km stage remaining.
Hanninen said that the Banbridge stage was difficult and he now just wants to get his Skoda to the finish. Craig Breen set 3rd fastest time through the stage and remarked that he was now very happy with the set up of his Peugeot 207 S2000. Garry Jennings finished that stage 14 firmly in the lead of GpN and determined just to get his Lancer to the finish in Armagh. Marty McCormack had a good run and was very happy with the new gearbox on his Citroen Ds3R3. Sam Moffett had a small spin in his Lancer in the slippy conditions and is now coming under increasing pressure from Donagh Kelly, with just 1 stage remaining. Josh Moffett is still going strong and in 12th position o/a.
UNOFFICIAL NATIONAL L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 13 LISBURN
1st (103) Darren Gass/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 1.42.20.3
2nd (102) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Corolla WRC) 1.43.43.8
3rd (101) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Mini WRC) 1.46.10.4
4th (107) Steve Perez/Paul Spooner (Focus WRC) 1.46.25.0
5th (110) Adrian Hetherington/Gary Nolan (Escort) 1.51.34.5
6th (129) W3esley Patterson/Martin McGarrity (Escort) 1.52.11.2
7th D. Stewart 1.52.49.4: 8th Waring 1.53.09.2: 9th Brammer 1.53.35.4: 10th Conlon 1.53.45.6:
News is coming in from Dermot Hanafin of MIS that Steve Perez has slid his Focus WRC into a field on a left hander in stage 14. He has managed to get the car out through a gate and continue. Steve was on a charge to catch McGarrity but instead dropped several minutes. However he had 5m in hand on the car behind so should not lose a place. A retirement over the last couple of stages has been Geoffrey Dolan who was in 8th place with his newly acquired Escort. Peter Taylor finished SS14 with a puncture on his Clio. Kevin O’Connor was still leading the Citroen Racing Trophy at Lisburn stage.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL www.rallynews.net Follow Twitter @pacenotes
