RALLY NEWS NO.1 Gleneagle Hotel/Saturday morning early
With two rounds of the Citroen backed Tarmac Championship been and gone, this Cartell.ie Killarney Rally of the Lakes, round 3 of 6, will be make or break time for many crews with Championship aspirations. Last year’s ‘Lakes’ winner Tim McNulty crashed out of the Circuit of Ireland when a brake pipe on his Subaru ‘let go’, so if he is to keep his Championship hopes alive Tim really needs a top result here. His car has been totally rebuilt, engine, gearbox, suspension, the lot, so he is leaving nothing to chance here, and he tested in the Sperrins Mountains this week. Behind Tim, at No.2 is Gareth MacHale, the man who, at the moment, is looking most likely to take this year’s Tarmac title. Despite his Focus WRC having an intermittent but hugely frustrating electrical problem on the Circuit, Gareth was still able to extend his Tarmac points lead. That fault in the car should now be cured following a thorough check at M-Sport.
At No.3 in the list is Craig Breen. Along with McNulty, Breen recorded a ‘did not finish’ on the Circuit, which puts the 20-year-old from Waterford on the back foot as regards the Tarmac series. Craig bounced back to form on last weekend’s Pirelli Rally, and he will be going flat out in his Fiesta Super 2000 this weekend re-establish his Tarmac Championship hopes. The fourth driver genuinely in the hunt for the Tarmac title is young Alastair Fisher from Fermanagh. Alastair led the Circuit during the Saturday evening stages and, although driving a GpN Lancer, he keeps turning in superb performances. That’s just the top four of what looks to be a supremely interesting Rally of the Lakes entry list.
At 5 is Denis Cronin in his older model Impreza WRC, the West Cork man showing a real return to his old confidence and speed this year. He has a new engine in his Subaru, and a last minute gearbox selector problem has been sorted. At 6 is the flamboyant Paul Bird in his Focus WRC, the Cumbrian man a newcomer to the Killarney stages, but he’s a very talented driver and will almost certainly give a good account of himself here. At 7 is Aaron MacHale, and, like his brother Gareth, was hampered on the Circuit with a few problems to his Focus, so he will be hoping for a better run here. At 8 is Midleton driver Daragh O’Riordan and he has done a brilliant job of switching on to his recently acquired Impreza WRC. Daragh reckons he is still getting to know the complicated Subaru, but that doesn’t seem to hamper him turning in some fabulous times. There is a slight centre differential issue with his Subaru, but it should be ok.
Alan Ring in his GpN Lancer and Colm Murphy (Impreza N) round off the top ten. Ring always goes brilliantly here on his home Killarney soil, while former Tarmac GpN Champion Murphy, who hasn’t done a rally since the Lakes 12 months ago, loves the stages here and always supports the event. Just some of the other top GpN contenders who should be in the hunt for ‘showroom’ honours include Thomas Fitzmaurice, Mark Nangle and Eamonn Daly.
An important part of the rally will be the battle between all the various Mk2 Escorts and Phil Collins should be the benchmark. Some of the drivers hoping to cause an upset should include Barry Meade, Fergus O’Meara, Ed O’Callaghan and Kevin O’Donoghue. Seeded at No.34 is the top Citroen Racing Trophy contender Marty McCormack and just behind him the C2R2 Max’s of Adrian McElhinney, Robert Barrable and Mark Donnelly. Mark Sheahan has a brand new C2R2 just delivered from France. In total there are 12 Citroen C2R2’s bidding for the almost €20,000 prize fund on offer this weekend, so the sparks could fly amongst the Citroen contenders. Add on the Historic part of the rally, as well as the Juniors, and it all points to a busy weekend! Clerk of the Course Liam Cronin has planned a slightly more compact route this year but it will still be a massive challenge for all the crews. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net *For SMS results text RALLY ITC to 53030 (Irl) or RALLY ITC to 60066 (UK): Text STOP to switch off. Cost 30c/25p. Provided by stagetimes.com
