Out at the front of the rally the 4 works drivers in the 2 Skodas and the 2 Peugeots are setting a fantastic pace, even faster than the top WRC machines in the National Rally. Craig Breen has the rear window and spoiler on his Peugeot repaired for this afternoon1s loop of stages and he is going to do his best to equal the score at the front. Robert Barrable is just over a second behind Sepp Wiegand and Sam Moffett makes up the top 6 in the International section. Sam, like several of the top drivers, found his tyres going off a little towards the end of this morning`s long loop. His brother Josh managed to fix the brake pipe on his Lancer and he had a decent run through stages 4 and 5.
Neil Simpson in the Skoda in 8th is struggling to hear co-driver Claire Mole on the pace notes. He said that the intercom seems a bit blurred. Chris Ingram in the Twingo reported a big moment on stage 5 when the car nearly got away from him over a jump but otherwise he is having a good run. Alex Parpottas incurred a few seconds road penalty when he changed his Fiesta R2 tyres from back to front between stages 4 and 5. Stephen Wright is playing catch up now in class R2 as his Fiesta suspension was not well set up for the Irish bumps.
In the National Rally Garry Jennings is building up confidence having had a brake issue with his Subaru last night. 2nd placed Declan Boyle is going to soften the suspension of his Subaru for the afternoon stages. Donagh Kelly dropped from 2nd to 3rd when his Focus got away from him on a tightening 5 right in stage 5; he caught the grass and went into a massive spin. Declan Gallagher in his Starlet reported a small overshoot in stage 5. Kenny McKinstry lost a few seconds on the gravelly section of stage 4 when he lost confidence. Steve Simpson reckons he bent the steering of his Subaru on a big jump in stage 3 and is trying to straighten things out here at service. Jonny Leonard`s Lancer spent quite a few seconds in a ditch and then a field in stage 2 when the brakes went awry. Peter Taylor is absolutely flying in his new Fiesta S2400 and is now only a few seconds behind Kenny McKinstry. Peter only drove the car for the first time last night and said that every corner is an adventure.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON with thanks to Michael & Zoe Patterson www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
