UNOFFICIAL L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 3 Shanera
INTERNATIONAL
1st (2) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 24.09.7
2nd (1) Daragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 24.25.8
3rd (4) Darren Gass/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 24.46.2
4th (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Corolla WRC) 24.48.2
5th (6) Garry Jennings/Barry McNulty (Lancer N) 25.45.3
6th (11) Eoin Doyle/Peter Brennan (Focus WRC) 26.00.8
7th (9) Sam Moffett/James O'Reilly (Lancer N) 26.34.2
NATIONAL
1st (10) Roy White/Liam Brennan (MG S2000) 25.36.2
2nd (23) Barry Meade/Liam Moynihan (Escort) 25.50.1
3rd (18) Fergus O'Meara/Diarmuid Lynch (Escort) 26.27.,2
4th (17) Martin McGee/Denis O'Mahony (Escort) 26.36.4
5th (20) Charlie Hickey/Johnny Hickey (Escort) 26.45.1
Following his fastest time over Molls Gap Tim McNulty was equal fastest with Daragh O’Riordan on stage 2, Ballaghbeama, and just over 2s up through stage 3, Shanera. McNulty said here at service In control. “I’m happy enough with that. I think our tyre choice was correct. Yes, we went well on Molls Gap, it is one of my favourite stages along with Fanad in Donegal. When I say favourite I mean those are two stages where I always seem to set good times”. Daragh O’Riordan felt that he was correct in playing it safe starting the day on Pirelli 7s and I should have been on the harder 5s, but it is going well in general”. Darren Gass was happy enough with his run. Eugene Donnelly recounted his Molls Gap problem with the petrol fumes and said. “Two miles into the stage I was already disorientated. It turned out to be a broken vent pipe and thankfully Garry Jennings was able to fix it for me.”
For his part Garry said. “We made a quick start and now I’m just protecting my GpN lead”. Eoin Doyle is having his first run in a Focus WRC and he is going nicely but still finding his feet with the car. The same can be said of JJ Fleming who has acquired the ex Mikko Hirvonen Focus WRC. JJ admits to being rusty and is still settling in to the complexities of the car’s launch control. Sam Moffett is on his first visit to the Killarney stages and is still settling into the classic Killarney roads but was less than 10s off Jennings’ time through SS3 and Sam holds 2nd in the Production category.
Kevin O’Connor leads the Citroen Racing Trophy. His closest pursuer David Carney had brake problems on stage 3 and dropped a few seconds. Steve Wood’s C2R2 retired early on with a mechanical problem.
Alan Ring’s retirement was due to engine problem. Kevin O’Donoghue put his Escort off the road at Fisher’s Bridge on Molls Gap.
Fergus O’Meara has had a fraught morning so far but still gong well despite the oil light coming on at the start of Molls Gap and also had a big spin on the Ballaghbeama stage. Geoffrey Dolan stopped at the scene of Kevin O’Donoghue’s accident and then his tyre pressures were all wrong for the rest of the stage. John Hickey’s co driver John McCarthy told us that they met a deer on a stage while the driver John is adamant it was an Irish Wolfhound! Rob Duggan in the Civic at No.47 is on his first rally and he has been setting the roads alight and leading his class so far.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.new Follow RallyNews on Twitter @pacenotes
