Eamonn Boland reported a trouble free run in his Subaru when he completed the opening stage, Ivy Hill. Not only was first on the road, he was fastest as well from Kevin Lynch. Kevin said. “That was a bit different but OK”. Kenny McKinstry was next to the stage finish and he said. “I felt a bit slow at the start but quite good towards the end. I had a few moments with the fuel light flashing and I couldn’t find the switch to change the fuel pump. In the end everything went well”.
When McKinstry left the start of the stage Peadar Hurson’s Subaru should have been arriving, but instead there was an ominous silence. Eventually news filtered through that Hurson had crashed his Impreza not long after the start of the stage, on a jump. Derek McGarrity had come upon the accident and co driver James McKee ran back to the start and had the stage stopped temporarily. When McGarrity made sure that everything was sorted he was able to drive through the stage and received an “interrupted” time which would be the same as McKinstry’s time.
Then it was business as usual with Mark Higgins in the first on the group N cars coming through the stage. Mark said. “I was a bit cautious, a little worried about bits of mud on the stage”. Guy Wilks then came through and was fastest of the group N cars and he said. “We kept it clean and careful, the car is moving around a bit but it was a good run”. Gwyndaf Evans said he felt a bit rusty when he finished the stage. David Higgins in the Impreza N14 reckoned he didn’t have a great run, his time 8.05.5. He said that the suspension in the new car seemed to be well sorted but they had been playing about with the anti lag system on the engine and the car seemed a bit slow out of junctions.
Glenn Allen commented at stage finish that he had new pads in his Corolla and they didn’t seem to be working very well. Denis Biggerstaff had a problem with his Subaru gear change and lost quite a few seconds switching from the paddles to manual. David Bogie finished the stage with a rear wheel smashed on his Lancer, he could well be out of the rally but has the option of Super Rally rules. Reportedly David’s incident happened on a tightening square right junction, the back left wheel hit something hard and sheared off. There was no other real damage apart from the brake disc being worn away driving out of the stage. Sebastien Ogier, on his first time on the Ulster Rally, said he had a “not too bad “ trip through that opening stage. Sebastien’s Citron C2R2 Max stopped the clock on 8.13.8 which was pretty good for a 1600cc car.
Seamus Leonard said he felt a wee bit rusty but in overall terms he was pleased with the way his new Lancer performed. Phillip Morrow’s car was covered in mud at stage finish and Phillip said that it was nothing to worry about, that he had just a cut a corner very tight. His time was 8.10.7. Darren Gass reported a few seconds lost with a spin but his time was reasonably good on 8.03.1. Emma McKinstry’s Impreza was suffering from an oil leak, still going. Keith Cronin had a good run, his time 8.01.4, just outside the leaderboard and James Wozencroft was also well on the pace, his stage time 8.11.6.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net (with thanks to Michael Patterson):
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