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| Ulster Rally 2017 |
| RALLY NEWS No.4 - Ebrinton Service - Friday @ 21:33:58 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.4 Ebrington Service Friday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 6 – Butterlope II
1st (5) Keith Cronin/Mikie Galvin (Fiesta R5) 49.19.0
2nd (4) Osian Pryce/Dale Furness (Fiesta R5) 49.19.9
3rd (1) Fredrik Ahlin/Torstein Eriksen (Fabia R5) 49.37.1
4th (8) Jonny Greer/Kirsty Riddick (Citroen DS3R5) 50.46.0
5th (3) Sam Moffett/Karl Atkinson (Fiesta R5) 50.53.0
6th (7) Marty McCormack/David Moynihan (Fabia R5) 51.00.0
7th (9) Desi Henry/Liam Moynihan (Fabia R5) 51.45.2
8th (11) Joe McGonigle/Ciaran Geaney (Fabia R5) 52.08.6
9th (15) Alex Laffey/Patrick Walsh (Fiesta R5) 52.43.0
10th (10) Stephen Wright/Arthur Kierans (Fiesta R5) 52.47.3
Welshman Osian Pryce, with Dale Furness on the Pacenotes in his Fiesta R5 shocked the opposition with his speed through stages four and five. On stage four, the second run over Holy Hill Osian was five seconds faster than Keith Cronin. Then on stage five he was six seconds faster than Keith and on stage six he was just 0.2 of a second ahead for the short 4.7 mile Butterlope test. This was enough to propel Osian from a fairly distant third to a really close second place, just 0.9 of a second separating Osian from overnight leader Keith. Fredrik Alhin has kept his composure and a decent pace to retain third place. Sam Moffett had been fourth but has dropped to fifth after a slow time on stage five. This has allowed Jonny Greer to pop into fourth place. Marty McCormack has improved from seventh to sixth when Desi Henry’s Skoda suffered a flat wheel in stage five. Alan Carnmichael / Ivor Lamont were lying a very strong 12th after stage four in their Mini WRC but dropped four minutes in stage five, Carnmichael was leading the national category but this allowed Camillus Bradley to move into the lead of the nationals.
At the service before the cars go into overnight parc ferme Keith Cronin commented “conditions were tough on that second loop, we were on dry weather tyres on flooded roads. I kept it on the road, that was the main thing and I am pleased not to have dropped more time”. Osian Pryce told us “we picked the perfect wet weather tyre for the first and second stages of the loop. On the third stage it was fairly dry and the car was moving about quite a lot but we were okay”. Fredrik Ahlin just said “slick tyres in the wet that was very difficult”. Tarmac championship leader Sam Moffett admitted that he perhaps backed off just a little too much. Sam dropped the engine to lag one and then at one point he thought he had a puncture and also lost time with an overshoot and got stuck at a hairpin. This allowed Jonny Greer to move ahead of Sam, Jonny saying “tyre choice wise the conditions suited us. It was a safe option”.
Desi Henry admitted to being “very depressed” when he sustained yet another puncture. Without that Desi reckons he would have been well in the picture. Certainly Desi was faster than Alhin in stage four and just 0.1 of a second of the Norwegian in stage six. Marty McCormack’s co-driver David Moyhinan informed us that their engineer had softened their anti-roll bar in service and then Marty had softened the dampers between stages all in an effort to build up confidence on the high speed sections, this following their accident in Ypres. The reason for Alan Carnmichael’s time loss was a punctured tyre in stage five. As it was a front wheel Alan opted to stop and change it as he was wary of damaging the wiring loom which is under that front mud guard. Alan has lost the lead of the nationals but reckons “it is not undoable to get back in contention”. Matt Edwards still has a problem with his Fiesta engine cutting out. Callum Devine lost his R2 lead to William Creighton when his Opel Adam clipped a front left wheel against a rock and the tyre went flat. Callum thought he would have lost more time than he did and is indeed now just 27 seconds behind Creighton. Callum commented “we will give it a rattle tomorrow and see if we can get a lock of time back!”.
Retirements include Jordan Home / Aaron Johnston who crashed their hired Peugeot 208 R2 heavily. James Williams / Dia Roberts put their Fiesta on its roof on stage five. We do not know as yet if they managed to get going again.
More news in the morning …. Brian, Liz, Michael & Zoe Patterson www.rallynews.net *Follow RallyNews on Twitter & Facebook @Pacenotes or @Real_RallyNews
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