UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Clogagh
1st (4) Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Impreza WRC) 41.17.2
2nd (2) Tim McNulty/Paul Kiely (Impreza WRC) 41.19.0
3rd (3) John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) 42.20.8
4th (10) Daragh O'Riordan/Tony McDaid (Impreza WRC) 43.25.6
5th (8) JJ Fleming/Robbie Ward (Impreza WRC) 43.45.3
6th (14) Sean Flanagan/Liam Brennan (Impreza N) 44.20.3
7th (17) Billy McLelland/Alastair Wiley (Lancer) 44.26.9
8th (20) Ed O'Callaghan/Ger Clancy (Escort) 44.48
9th (11) Bob Fowden/Jerry Hynes (Impreza) 44.54
10th (15) Washington James/Llinos J-Davies (Darrian) 44.58
Number 1 seed Liam McCarthy slid his Corolla wide on a corner on stage 4 and managed to get a fence post jammed up inside the rear wheel arch and lost about 4m extricating the car. Liam and his co driver Kieran Murphy were lying 3rd o/a but are now outside the leaderboard. Tim McNulty was fastest through stage 4 and has dropped the gap to leader Denis Cronin to less than 2s. Cronin reported some sort of a thumping noise from underneath his Subaru and eased back slightly in the stage. McNulty still maintains that he is on a very comfortable pace. John Dalton was 11s slower than McNulty through stage 4 which is still a pretty good time for a 2wd car and when Dalton brought his Darrian into service he said. “Everything is as good as gold”.
There was no sign of Michael Barrable’s Focus WRC here at service in control. Michael was lying 6th after stage 3 and no sign of any trouble at that point. Sean Flanagan is leading the GpN category very comfortably in his Impreza. Sean has Liam Brennan the Cork bodywork specialist co-driving this time. Early GpN leader Kevin Kelleher has lost many minutes. His Lancer incurred front differential trouble. Kevin is going to try and change the unit here at service but it is a big job in the time allowed. The reason for Brian O’Mahony’s almost 4m delay in stage 3 was down to his Clio clouting a rock and the tyre rolled off the rim. It was the same rock that he hit first time through, but he said he didn’t hit it as hard second time! Brian changed the offending wheel in the stage and had a bit of a problem with the jack, which meant the seconds were ticking away.
Scottish visitor Billy McLelland, with local man Alastair Wylie co driving, brought his Lancer into service with loads of mud jammed up around the front apron. When we asked Billy about the problem he said. “The driver ran out of talent!” Daragh O’Riordan had a good run through the last 2 stages to move into 4th o/a in his Scariff Plant Hire Impreza. Ed O’Callaghan has moved into the top Escort position and leads cl.13. Ed told us there is still a bit of a misfire in the Escort engine. Adrian Hetherington is now speeding up but he is still a couple of seconds per stage down on O’Callaghan. Adrian is running in cl.14, the same class as John Dalton. David Guest is having some problem with the throttle position sensor on his Civic but still going strong.
Kevin O’Donoghue was working at the back of his Escort before stage 3 and there is no sign of him here at service yet. Brian Lawlor got his Escort into service and told us that the back axle has gone. When we asked him if he could get the spare fitted he replied. “No spare. I can hardly afford the one that’s under the car now!” Damien McCarthy in his cl.11 Civic had a good run through stages 3 and 4 and is now a total of 44.59 but we will have to wait and get John Hendy’s time to find out who is leading the ultra competitive class 11.
Rally Argentina: Hanninen leads Meeke by 6s with Wilks a further 9s back and Kopecky plus 45 after SS4.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
(Our thanks to Kevin O’Driscoll: And also to Liz from the Ricky Proffit & Gwyn Thomas team for the coffee)
