No.1 seed Gareth MacHale has at long last got his Focus WRC on something like full song and set fastest time through stage 7, over 8s quicker than Alastair Fisher who was half a second up on Tim McNulty. Derek McGarrity did not have a great stage and was a further 12s back on Tim. Gareth said that although he was a minute faster than his last visit to the same stage the car is still suffering from a very slight misfire. Derek McGarrity said at stage finish that he wasn’t happy at all having had a silly overshoot. Alastair Fisher was once again composed at stage finish and reported that all had gone well.
Garry Jennings said that the broken drive shaft had been fixed at service, but on that stage 7 there was “a wild whiny noise” came into the car. Aaron MacHale was pleased enough with stage 7 time but he reckons his World Rally Car, which is the older model Focus, does not have the legs of the other cars. Daragh O’Riordan’s copybook drive was spoiled somewhat when he misheard a note early in the stage, thought it was a fast corner but actually co drive Tony had called a square left, and the Subaru ended up in the ditch with some panel damage. There was no apparent mechanical damage and they lost about 40s and several places on the leaderboard. Richard Cathcart has had the brakes fixed on his Impreza and reckons he made a good tyre choice, and he certainly had a good time in the stage, just 7s down on Fisher 0.6s down on Jennings.
Neil McCance reckons that that stage 7 just doesn’t like him and he certainly did not set a good time in it. John McGlaughlin on the other hand went quite well and maintains his lead in the Evo Challenge. Stanley Ballantine retired his Lancer with a broken rear diff and James Foley is fitting a new unit now so that Stanley can rejoin the fray tomorrow. The Evo Challenge is a double header so as regards points it will be a clean sheet in the morning. Sam Moffett had some work done to his Lancer at service but the turbo is still blowing out. Marty McCormack continues to lead the Citroen Racing Trophy in his C2R2 Max. Robert Barrable is 2nd with Mark Donnelly 3rd 13s in arrears and Shane Buckley is a further 13s in arrears Andrew Bushe continues to lead cl.A6 in his Super 1600 Citroen. Tommy Doyle has dropped a little time but leads cl.A7 in his Clio.
Late news ….times starting to come in from SS8. Alastair Fisher was fastest by 5s from Derek McGarrity. Tim McNulty was just a fraction of a second slower than McGarrity. Gareth MacHale was a further 9s. back.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ & MICHAEL PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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