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| Ulster Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.2 - Ebrington Service - Friday @ 17:22:55 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.2 Ebrington Service/Friday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 3 Butterlope
1st (2) Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble (Fiesta R5) 24.39.4
2nd (1) Elfyn Evans/Craig Parry (Fiesta R5) 24.44.6
3rd (3) Keith Cronin/Mikie Galvin (Citroen DS3R5) 24.55.2
4th (12) Jonny Greer/Kirsty Riddick (Citroen DS3R5) 24.59.5
5th (5) David Bogie/James O’Reilly (Fabia R5) 25.10.2
6th (10) Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson (Fiesta R5) 25.26.7
7th (4) Fredrik Ahlin/Morten Erik Abrahamsson (Fiesta R5) 25.28.3
8th (11) Tom Cave/James Morgan (Fiesta R5) 25.43.9
9th (8) Marty McCormack/David Moynihan (Fabia S2000) 25.47.0
10th (7) Desi Henry/Liam Moynihan (Fabia R5) 25.49.3
11th Josh Moffett 12th Garry Jennings 13th Joe McGonigle 14th Alan Carmichael 15th Niall Devine 16th Ryan Loughran
Stage 3 of this Ulster Rally, the 4.7 mile Butterlope test, saw Elfyn Evans fastest from Alastair Fisher. Alastair still maintained his lead but dropped almost 5s to the flying Welshman. Keith Cronin was a further 4s back on Fisher. Alastair was fastest through the first 2 stages but slid wide on the first corner of stage 3, and bent the rear right suspension of his Fiesta. This slowed him through the remainder of the, luckily for him, short stage. Keith Cronin said here at service ‘I felt my way into the rally, taking no risks. It is so easy to get caught out here in these conditions it just takes one corner, one junction’. Keith immediately turned to his engineer and said something about adjusting the roll bar. Jonny Greer was consistently fast through those opening 3 stages to hold 4th o/a. David Bogie in 5th recounted that he drove conservatively and will make a push this evening when the conditions look better.
Further stories include: Josh Moffett lost time when his Fiesta took off on its own on a 60 downhill 3 left. Josh threw the car sideways and clipped a wall. He commented. ‘I thought the rally was all over but it was not!’ Apart from some body work damage he also bent the suspension and struggled for the rest of the stage and through stage 3. Swedish driver Fredrik Ahlin recounted that he incurred a puncture on a right hander over a crest about 3.5km into stage 2 and dropped about 20s. He then had no spare wheel for stage 3 so drove carefully. He is still pleased to be in 7th o/a. Marty McCormack said he slept in on the first stage, very slow to start, but had a good enough push through SS3. He feels the nature of the stages does not suit his car just so well as the turbo cars in front, because there are too many slow corners and junctions, and he is having to play with the clutch to keep the revs up.
Interestingly, Garry Jennings in the new Mirage is also having problems at junctions, finding the car hard work to get the revs up and his Swedish engineer Tomas is going to give the engine a tweak here at service. Desi Henry said the rally has been a disaster so far for him. He slid the car off the first stage and then could not get to grips with the wet tyres, he just did not feel comfortable and plans to make a lot of changes at service. Jamie Anderson reported a first stage spin but still going. Tom Cave’s Fiesta incurred a front right puncture in stage 2 that cost 30s and then had no spare tyre for SS3. Joe McGonigle had an overshoot in stage 2 and said he struggled for grip the whole way through. Robert Woodside softened his Fiesta suspension following the test stage this morning, but then found it all wrong and said it was like a boat going through the stages. Camillus Bradley lost time at Aaron MacHale’s accident and is hoping for an amended stage time. Rob Duggan bent something in his Adam’s front suspension in stage 2 which left the tracking awry. Rob still leads class A4. His team mate Mattias Adielsson has reportedly crashed in SS1, and Pat Kirk has crashed at the same spot.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL & ZOE PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
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