UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 9 – END OF LEG 1
1st (1) Gareth MacHale/Brian Murphy (Focus WRC) 1.12.43.4
2nd (9) Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (Fiesta S2000) 1.13.51.0
3rd (2) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 1.14.22.6
4th (7) Alastair Fisher/Rory Kennedy (Lancer N) 1.14.31.5
5th (4) Aaron MacHale/Eugene O'Donnell (Focus WRC) 1.14.44.2
6th (6) Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Impreza WRC) 1.16.13.5
7th (29) Sean Flanagan/Brian Duggan (Impreza N) 1.18.11.1
8th (14) Alan Ring/Adrian Deasy (Lancer N) 1.18.18.8
9th (15) Jer O'Donovan/Sean Hayde (Impreza N) 1.18.23.1
10th (10) Mike Bird/Kevin Keane (Impreza WRC) 1.18.44.9
11th (30) Marty McCormack/Dai Roberts (C2R2 Max) 1.19.20.9
12th (41) Conor Harvey/Ger Callaghan (Civic R3) 1.19.23.0
NATIONALS:
1st Daniel McKenna (Escort): 1.16.05.0: 2nd Barry Meade (Escort: 1.18.11.0: 3rd Pat Kelly (Impreza) 1.20.49.3.
With an overnight lead of over a minute on Craig Breen Gareth MacHale & Brian Murphy in their Focus WRC look very well placed on this Safety Direct Galway International Rally. Tim McNulty is another 31s behind Breen and looks to have his work cut out for tomorrow. When Gareth MacHale brought his Focus in to Parc Ferme beside Oran Pre Cast he told us. “All OK. We drove at a very controlled comfortable pace this afternoon. We took no chances. It was so slippy. One corner was OK the next was like sheet glass. We really pulled back this afternoon. Tomorrow’s stages are much cleaner so if we need to go ten tenths we can. This was the easiest day’s rallying I’ve had for a long time”. Craig Breen told us. “I could hardly believe we were fastest on that final stage of the day. It didn’t feel anything special. We ran wide on one corner and touched a stone but it was no problem. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow especially the Black Road stage.” Tim McNulty commented. “Another …. Overshoot on that final stage. My own fault.”
Alastair Fisher in 4th o/a felt that he had driven within himself during the afternoon stages, nice and handy. Aaron MacHale reported that his Focus sustained a puncture on a square left corner 6km from the end of that Colmanstown test. He said “That’s just not my stage”. That is where he spun earlier today. Kevin Barrett is really getting his confidence up on his first run with the Pirelli tyres, he’s starting to realise what he can do and his times improved over the last few stages. Alan Ring in 8th reported a good clean run towards the end of the day and is looking forward to tomorrow when he should be in a better frame of mind than this morning. Sean Flanagan also went well this afternoon and reckons this larger turbo restrictor is fabulous. Galway man Mike Bird has kept his Impreza WRC in the top 10 despite a 20s stall on the start line of S7 and also having no intercom through stage 8 that meant he couldn’t hear Kevin Keane on the notes. Marty McCormack switched to intermediate tyres on the front and wets on the back of his Citroen C2R2 Max to continue to lead the category. Robert Barrable is 2nd in the Citroens and Adrian McElhinney 3rd. Daniel McKenna capped a brilliant day with another series of fastest times in the National section to lead by over 2m from Barry Meade. Danny said he was getting more grip through the last 3 stages. Martin Wards leads the Historics in his Manta.
Mark Donnelly/Paddy Robinson retired their ex Jason Pritchard Citron C2R2 Max on stage 1 when the gearbox broke.
In the Fiesta Sporting Trophy with a couple of stages to go before the end of the day Stephen Wright had a substantial lead over Dara Leonard 2nd. Stephen Baxter had been 2nd but hit a rock and broke the suspension and was forced to retire. Desi Henry was 3rd. More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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