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| Pirelli International Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.10 - After S12 - Saturday @ 18:29:24 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.10 Carlisle Service/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 12 FINAL STAGE
1st (2) Gwyndaf Evans/Chris Patterson (Lancer N) 1.27.58.0
2nd (8) Jonny Greer/Dai Roberts (Lancer N) 1.30.31.2
3rd (3) Craig Breen/Gareth Roberts (Fiesta S2000) 1.30.46.1
4th (10) Daniel Sigurdarson/Asta Siguroardottir (Lancer N) 1.31.46.1
5th (24) Owen Murphy/James O'Brien (Lancer N) 1.33.33.4
6th (12) Jason Pritchard/Robbie Durant (Impreza N) 1.33.42.6
7th (16) Jarkko Nikara/Jarno Ottman (Twingo) 1.35.02.0
8th (14) Alan Cookson/Julian Wilkinson (Impreza N) 1.36.56.0
9th (19) Elfyn Evans/Andrew Edwards (Fiesta ST) 1.37.08.9
10th (6) Adam Gould/Craig Drew (Impreza N) 1.37.50.3
What an unpredictable sport rallying is. British Champion Keith Cronin went into the final stage with a 17s advantage over Gwyndaf Evans with Craig Breen a further 4s back. A close finish was expected but instead the rally turned on its head when Cronin’s Impreza suffered a puncture and a damaged wheel and ground to a halt almost within sight of the finish line. Craig Breen’s Fiesta also suffered a puncture and the Waterford man dropped several minutes and had to be content with 3rd at the finish. As it was then Welshman Gwyndaf Evans and his Northern Ireland co driver Chris Patterson have won the rally in their JR Motorsport Lancer Evo10. It was a fantastic result for Gwyndaf and a fair reflection of the pace he has shown from the start, despite having to battle through fierce dust clouds at times in the stages.
It was a brilliant result as well for Jonny Greer and his co driver Dai Roberts who were in a slightly older model Lancer. Unofficially Jonny now moves into the lead of the Dulux Trade British Rally Championship and also reinforces his advantage in the Evo Challenge. For Craig Breen and Gareth Roberts 3rd overall is still a great result although considering what might have been it still must be a disappointment for 20 year old Craig. However, he scored several fastest times during the rally which augurs well for his rallying future. Just over 20 cars have made it to the finish of this very tough Pirelli International Rally. All deserve praise. Some of the class winners include: Elfyn Evans was 9th o/a and won cl.R3: Jarkko Nikara survived all sorts of clutch problems with his Twingo to win Cl.R2: Robert Barrable took the lion’s share of the €20,000 Citroen Racing Trophy prize fund by bringing his C2R2 Max into 12th overall and best Citroen. Luke Pinder was 2nd in the Citroens and Donegal man Joe McGonigle 3rd.
In the Historic Rally Graham Waite/Gill Cotton came through to win in their Volvo Amazon. Jonathan Gale/James Whittaker had led but their Tiger banged into a log pile on the penultimate stage and Waite made a charge through the final test to win by 11s. Philip Smith was 3rd and Dessie Nutt battled back to 4th – both in Porsches. Peter Smith won the Post Historic in his Porsche and Will Onions the Classics in his Escort.
Finally for now many thanks to Brian Kinghorn, Alan Blake and all at the Cumberland Sporting Car Club as well as the legion of volunteer officials for putting on such an excellent event. Thanks as well to everyone who sponsored and helped with the RallyNews service.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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