UNOFFICIAL (INT.) LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 Lough Henny
1st (1) Craig Breen/Scott Martin (Peugeot 208T16) 23.12.9
2nd (6) Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly (Fiesta R5) 23.19.0
3rd (3) Robert Consani/Maxime Vilmot (Citroen DS3 R5) 23.29.6
4th (12) Josh Moffett/John Rowan (Fiesta RRC) 23.34.3
5th (7) Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson (Fiesta R5) 23.38.6
6th (2) Kajetan Kajetanowicz/Jaroslaw Baran (Fiesta R5) 23.43.6
7th Euan Thorburn 8th Stephen Wright 9th Jaromir Tarabus 10th Charles Martin 11th Jonny Greer 12th Tommy Doyle 13th Jon Armstrong
UNOFFICIAL NAT. LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 2
1st (101) Declan & Brian Boyle (Impreza WRC) 17.23.1
2nd (102) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 17.51.5
3rd (103) Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr (Impreza WRC) 18.28.6
4th (124) Stanley Orr/Stephen McAuley (Escort) 18.43.7
5th (111) Keith White/Damien McCann (Escort) 18.49.3
6th (117) Clive Kilpatrick/Conor McGinnity (Lancer N) 18.52.0
No time as yet for Rob Duggan who was 4th o/a.
With the weather conditions improving slightly the drivers here at service were having to decide on whether to go for a dry weather type tyre. Most erred on the side of caution as the roads will almost certainly still be muddy and wet under the trees. Craig Breen`s technicians gave his Peugeot a real good examination in the light of this morning`s pop off valve issues on stage 1. Craig was able to change the set up himself to a slightly less powerful one, and it seems to be doing the business. He was fastest by 3s through stage 3 from Robert Barrable with Robert Consani less than a second further back. The big news from that 3rd stage was that Alistair Fisher has unfortunately crashed his Fiesta R5 out of 4th place. Alistair and co driver Gordon Noble are reported to be OK and the car is not too badly damaged, but going no further today.
Marty McCormack was having problems with his Skoda brakes and on stage 2 he screwed the brake bias to the front but then slid off the road and punctured a tyre. Then the handbrake would not work properly and the co driver James O`Reilly had to sit in the car and keep his foot on the brake while Marty changed the wheel. Of course the clock was ticking all the while…..Marty is almost 4m back now. Josh Moffett went well over the last few stages and he said. `I feel comfortable with the pace although the conditions are unbelievable`. His co driver John Rowan emerged from the Fiesta RRC clutching a little gadget with wires hanging from it. Josh laughed as he recounted. `We were making a bit of a push over those big jumps in Hamilton`s Folly when the FIA tracker device fell off the dash and dangled in front of us inside the car. We just yanked it out by the roots. We had no option!` Josh`s brother Sam told us. `We were a wee bit too cautious but I am happy with the set up of the car. There was oil on the road in stage 3 and I backed off too much`.
Inessa Tushkanova, the Ukranian model who is based in Moscow, told us that she was off the road at a hairpin in stage 2 and had to do some reversing that cost quite a few seconds. Antonen Tlustak lost a few seconds through all 3 stages when his Skoda intercom would not work. Joe McGonigle was off on the 2nd stage when his Skoda landed in a hedge following an off camber jump, he only lost about 20s but it certainly knocked him off his stride. Jon Armstrong has put in a tremendous performance this morning in his Fiesta R2 to hold 13th o/a. Second in the R2 category is Emil Bergkvist in his Opel Adam with Chris Ingram 3rd and 17th o/a, 26s behind Armstrong. Jon admitted that he was pushing hard, especially over Hamilton`s Folly. Ingram said he was being careful and he cannot afford to crash, he says he will speed up if it dries up. Bergkvist commented `We had a clean run with no mistakes. It is a long rally`.
More News Later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & Michael & Zoe Patterson *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
