Gareth MacHale was fastest through the long dark Glaskermore stage but he was still far from happy when his brought his Focus WRC into the re-fuel halt at Newry on the way to the Dundalk overnight parc ferme. Gareth, No.1 seed and current Tarmac Champion said. “The clutch is on the way out and the car cut out twice in the stage, but I pushed hard, had to if we have any chance tomorrow. We thought we had the problem cured but its not”. When rally leader Alastair Fisher brought his Lancer into the control he said. “We didn’t go too bad in there, maybe a couple of slight overshoots, but there were around 30 junctions in the stage which didn’t help our cause in the Group N car”. When we asked Alastair if he could hold on to his lead he said. “Hopefully. It would help if we had monsoon conditions. We’ve had good tyre choices and put new brake pads in for tonight and everything is looking good”.
Tim McNulty reported that he had a couple of overshoots and a stall in the long stage and maybe his tyre choice wasn’t the best but otherwise all was OK. Aaron MacHale told us that there was one place where he locked up the brakes and stalled the car, which cost a few seconds. Aaron went on to say that it is brilliant just to be here at the end of the first leg as he thought his rally was over the first stage. Richard Cathcart still lies 2nd in GpN and despite a wheel bearing being changed earlier, which it was hoped would cure a brake problem, he still has the brake worry of sometimes 100 per cent brakes, sometimes virtually nothing. Richard had 1 spin and an overshoot in the long stage. John McGlaughlin lies 3rd in GpN and 7th o/a tonight which is good enough to earn him maximum Evo Challenge points. The Evo Challenge is on a double header so drivers like Neil McCance, who did lead earlier today, will start with a clean sheet in the morning.
Garry Jennings had been 2nd GpN but his Lancer has ground to a halt in that stage 9, reported with broken transmission. Alan Ring has dropped down to 16th. His Lancer suffered a damaged differential and he locked the transmission to keep the car going, but lost several minutes. The Killarney man commented. “The adventure continues, we should be able to fix the car in the morning if we get to Dundalk and back for service”.
In the Citroen Racing Trophy Marty McCormack continues to set the pace and not only does he lead the Citroen C2R2 Max contingent it would appear that he now leads cl.A6 overall as early leader Andrew Bushe has dropped right down the order to 21st following a problem in the long dark stage. Robert Barrable was 2nd C2R2 but he has apparently slid off the road in 9 which leaves Mark Donnelly in 2nd and current Irish Citroen champion Adrian McElhinney in 3rd.
More news S/day: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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