UNOFFICIAL L/BOARD AFTER STAGE 4 MOLLS GAP 2
INTERNATIONAL
1st (1) Daragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 32.45.8
2nd (5) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Corolla WRC) 32.58.2
3rd (4) Darren Gass/Enda Sherry (Impreza WRC) 33.26.2
4th (6) Garry Jennings/Barry McNulty (Lancer N) 34.44.3
5th (11) Eoin Doyle/Peter Brennan (Focus WRC) 34.51.8
6th (9) Sam Moffett/James O'Reilly (Lancer N) 35.40.2
NATIONAL
1st (10) Roy White/Liam Brennan (MG S2000) 34.33.2
2nd (23) Barry Meade/Liam Moynihan (Escort) 34.41.1
3rd (24) Ed Murphy/John McCarthy (Escort) 34.59.9
4th (18) Fergus O'Meara/Diarmuid Lynch (Escort) 35.31.2
5th (17) Martin McGee/Denis O'Mahony (Escort) 35.39.4
6th (33) Denis Moynihan/Eamonn Hayes (Escort) 36.10.7
The shock news coming in from stage 4, the 2nd run over Molls Gap, is that Tarmac Champion Tim McNulty has retired his Subaru. Tim had a 16s lead starting the stage but unconfirmed reports suggest that his Subaru skidded off the road backwards on the first section of the Gap and damage to a rear wheel meant the car could not continue. Times from the Angus Sealy computer show that Eugene Donnelly was fastest over stage 4 from Daragh O’Riordan with Darren Gass quite a few seconds back. Garry Jennings was fastest in GpN, 7s up on Sam Moffett. David Carney was 1s faster than Kevin O’Connor in the Citroen Racing Trophy.
In the National Rally Barry Meade was 6s quicker than Roy White over the Gap to leave White’s margin at the front just 7.9s.
Running further back in the International section is Aaron MacHale. His Focus WRC has been hampered by clutch, alternator and battery problems. There was a new part fitted to the clutch here at service and Aaron is hopeful the car will perform OK on this loop.
Earlier we reported that Rob Duggan was ahead in class 11. Ken O’Neill in his Puma has now got ahead of the flying Duggan Civic for class supremacy. Husband and wife team Tony and Brid Murphy (No.34) lost a little time this morning with a broken intercom on their Escort. Brid had nearly lost her voice shouting the notes by the time the car reached service. We reported earlier that Steve Wood had retired his C2R2 on Molls Gap with mechanical problems. His co-driver Johnny Baird told us that one of the crew is already on his way to Donegal to get a replacement engine and they hope to run on the Sunday leg.
Kieran Marshall was another to have intercom problems this morning and he is now lying 2nd in Class 1 to Ian Hynes in a similar Civic. Fergal Allen had a broken clutch pedal on his BMW M3. He lost little time and the damage has now been repaired. David Guest’s Civic was slowed through stages 2 and 3 because of a broken front ball joint. Damage now repaired. Joe Connolly caught the struggling Guest Civic on Ballaghbeama and Joe reckons it cost only a few seconds, if any.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net Follow RallyNews on Twitter @pacenotes
