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| Ulster International rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.3 - After SS2 - Friday @ 17:00:27 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.3 Service/Antrim/Friday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBORD AFTER STAGE 2 GLENGUN
1st (1) Eugene Donnelly/Paddy Toner (Fabia WRC) 12.35.1
2nd (4) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 12.39.9
3rd (2) Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 12.42.5
4th (9) Darren Gass/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 12.52.7
5th (8) Glenn Allen/Damien Connolly (Corolla WRC) 13.00.0
6th (6) Keith Cronin/Greg Shinnors (Lancer N) 13.04.3
7th (5) Mark Higgins/Bryan Thomas (Impreza N) 13.04.8
8th (7) Gwyndaf Evans/Chris Patterson (Lancer N) 13.13.1
9th (10) Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 13.16.3
10th (15) Danny Barry/Martin Brady (Lancer N) 13.36.1
Eugene Donnelly was fastest through stage 2 by 3s from Gareth MacHale with Derek McGarrity another 2 in arrears. Mark Higgins was fastest GpN by 6s from Keith Cronin. Conditions were fairly dry for the top drivers and at stage finish the “bearded” Eugene Donnelly said. “I went off the boil a bit in the middle of the stage and found the chicanes very tight otherwise OK”. Derek McGarrity said. “I went for the wrong tyres, too soft a compound and I made a mess of the chicanes which were much tighter than I thought they would be. It was turn hairpin left turn hairpin right turn hairpin left”. Keith Cronin was 6s faster than Higgins through the opening stage but dropped that 6s in Glendun and said. “I wasn’t so confident and found it difficult over the bumps. I didn’t push as hard as I could have”. Mark Higgins told us. “I cut the tyres myself at the start of the stage which was a bit of a mistake, probably shouldn’t have done it”. It certainly did not seem to have affected his time. When Glenn Allen’s Corolla came in Glenn said. “I didn’t enjoy that, the car was moving around”.
Gwyndaf Evans reported “It was never going to be perfect, but that was better than I expected”. Interestingly Gwyndaf, in the new Evo 10, was only 0.6 of a second down on Cronin. Alastair Fisher was another who found the high speed run down the Glens of Antrim valley daunting and said. “I just wasn’t confident”. Adam Gould continues to have some problems with his Impreza, the power steering seems to be wonky and he had big trouble in the chicanes. Adam was 20s down on Fisher. John McGlaughlin finished the stage with the hazard lights of his Lancer on and he said. “Following the off on the first stage there seems to be something wrong with the differentials and the brake pedal is just going to the floor”.
Finnish driver Matti Rantanen said he was too careful with his notes and didn’t record all the bumps. Marty McCormack still leads the Citroen C2R2s but has a problem with his brake pedal going to the floor. Marty is over 20s up on his closes pursuer Jason Pritchard. Kris Princen leads cl.R3 in his Clio and the Belgian driver said. “That was very good, very fast, lovely stage”. David Bogie lost time in the stage when his Evo 10 suffered turbo pressure loss when a pipe blew off. Alan Carmichael was 14th o/a after SS2 but was going to struggle over Torr Head as his Lancer’s tyres were completely shot. Jody Patterson & Jeremy Taylor lost a fair bit of time on Glendun when their Lancer lost its brakes. Pat Kirk had one of his closest ever rally escapes when his Lancer got completely sideways on the long left hander into the bridge. Andrew Bushe has had to pull out as his ex Shaun Gallagher C2 is giving fuel pressure problems. Andrew was having to stop every couple of miles and switch the engine off for 15s in case it ran too lean and blew. He is going to try for Super Rally.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON & MICHAEL www.rallynews.net
For SMS results text RALLY ITC to 53030 (Irl) or 60066 (UK): Text STOP to switch off. Cost 30c/25p: Provided by stagetimes.com
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