Damp drizzly conditions prevailed as the drivers tackled the tough 19.48km opening stage today and Eugene Donnelly was fastest with Gareth MacHale 2nd and he said. “We took it handy, we are on a soft cut slick”. Eamonn Boland has dropped out of 2nd place having lost time when his Subaru had a big overshoot on a square left and shot up a lane and he had to reverse out. Eugene Donnelly’s time is all the more remarkable as his Skoda lost the transmission hydraulics in the control area and he had to bleed the system electronically to get it restored. This hassle meant that he didn’t have time to check his tyre pressures, and indeed when he finished the stage the tyres were over 40psi. He said. “I was really knocked out of my stride. The car was a real handful. I am very shocked to be fastest”. Tim McNulty’s Subaru sustained a puncture in the stage and Tim changed the offending wheel at the stop line. He lost very little time in the stage, just a few seconds. Glenn Allen had a soft front tyre on his Corolla the whole way through the stage. Daniel Doherty set a 3rd fastest time which he was pretty pleased about. Wesley Patterson was fastest in the Nationals to move into a very slender lead over Rodney Wilton. Manus Kelly had one of yesterday’s times corrected which moved him back a place on the overnight results.
Some news from last night includes Eugene Donnelly getting the gearbox on his Fabia changed in 28 minutes by the Derek McGeehan team which is somewhat of a world record. Also Eugene got the clearance on a query over the water injection in the engine, a statement then issued read: “A system on Car No.2 was sealed pending technical eligibility clarification. On detailed investigation it was found to comply with the regulations". Looking further afield everyone is delighted that Kris Meeke and his co driver Paul Nagle in their works Peugeot clinched victory on the Ypres Rally last night. This was a fantastic and very significant result for the 2 young men and reinforces their lead in the IRC.
Some overnight class positions in the International include: Conor Harvey leads cl.7 in his new Civic Type R and was 14th o/a overnight. This was despite some brake glazing troubles. Young Toni Kelly is 2nd in that class although she lost a little time with some road penalties and also the car running low on fuel on Fanad. Daragh O’Riordan/Sean McCarthy have changed to a Corsa for this rally and they are 19th o/a and 1st in cl.6. Galway’s Ian Hynes led cl.3 in yet another Honda.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON (+ Michael Patterson) www.rallynews.net (Our thanks to Dr Padraic Conneally & Cynthia Fuery: Thanks also to Pat & Phyllis Shiel – the best banana cake ever! *For SMS results text RALLY ITC to 53030 (Irl.) or 60066 (UK): Text STOP to switch off. Cost 30c/25p. Provided by stagetimes.com
