There was certainly no shortage of dramas over this morning’s 3 stages on this Safety Direct Galway International Rally. Eamonn Boland did lead but his Subaru stopped on the road section between stages 10 and 11, reportedly with an engine problem. This meant that Eugene Donnelly moved into the lead in his Fabia. Kevin Lynch was then 2nd but losing time due to an overheating engine. Then at the start of stage 12, Ballybuck, the gearbox electronics registered “fail” and this prevented the engine from firing up. It looks as if Kevin has also retired. Conrad Rautenbach was running late on the road but 7th o/a in his Citroen. Conrad’s Xsara was having some engine problems, lapsing on to 3 cylinders. He started stage 12 and was passed by a couple of the Escorts, but then crashed on a square right scattering stones over the road.
Paul Gallagher/Karl Reid were leading the National Rally in their Corolla but unfortunately crashed out in stage 11, Shanaglish. It was a big accident which blocked the road and held up the following drivers. Our information is that Paul and Karl are pretty shaken up but hopefully OK. Wesley Patterson now leads the Nationals in his Escort.
When Eugene Donnelly came in here to service he said. “I took it steady, no heroics on that last stage. I have changed the diff settings this morning and the car feels good. I knew that Eamonn and Kevin had problems before that last stage so I was able to ease back. I’m learning something new about the Skoda, every mile, every stage. To be fair to Eamonn and Kevin they were going hard yesterday. I really had no answer. I was looking forward this morning to see how we would go against Kevin. We did catch him in a stage and lost a few seconds but it wasn’t Kevin’s fault”. When Peadar Hurson came in he looked at the times to discover he was 2nd o/a and joked. “I’ll have to drive slowly more often!” Peadar has of course been pacing himself on this rally trying to get back into the groove following his accident on last year’s Ulster. Aaron MacHale said. “We’re learning the car all the time and getting quicker”.
Gareth MacHale had a couple of stalls in his Tom Hogan Motors backed Focus WRC but otherwise going well. The little confusion we had over his stage 10 time has been resolved and it would appear pretty definite that his time was 9.52.8 whereas Eugene Donnelly had a 9.32.0.
We said on the last Rally News that Alastair Fisher, having won the Fiesta Sporting Trophy yesterday, was transferred from the National to the main rally but did not start this morning. That is correct, but Alastair made the decision not to start so he could save the Fiesta for Rally Ireland. Craig Breen was 2nd in the Fiestas yesterday set good times on the opening stages this morning but was slowish on the Ballybuck stage which is so fast it didn’t suit the car. He is also being hampered by a broken engine mounting.
On the subject of Rally Ireland, Paul Goodman who is the Chief Marshal, would like to point out that although they have had a great response from marshals they could always use a few more and he can be contacted on 087 6667622 or email chiefmarshal@rallyireland.org We also did a story this morning on Aaron Burkart. We thought his car wasn’t put into parc ferme last night at the correct time, but he must have gone in as he has re-started this morning.
More news later: BRIAN & LILZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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