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| Rally Isle of Man |
| RALLY NEWS No.11 - After SS21 - Saturday @ 16:24:12 |
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MANX TAILS/RALLYNEWS NO.11 Grandstand/Saturday
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER SS 21 – FINAL STAGE
1st (2) Keith Cronin/Barry McNulty (Impreza N) 2.19.00.3
2nd (3) Gwyndaf Evans/Gareth Roberts (Lancer N) 2.20.38.4
3rd (10) Jason Pritchard/Robbie Durant (Impreza N) 2.23.51.7
4th (6) Jonny Greer/Gordon Noble (Lancer N) 2.24.41.5
5th (19) Jarkko Nikara/Petri Nikara (Twingo) 2.29.36.7
6th (7) Dave Weston Jnr/Ieuan Thomas (Impreza N) 2.29.36.8
7th (18) Matti Rantanen/Mikko Lukka (Twingo) 2.29.59.8
8th (17) Elfyn Evans/Andrew Edwards (Fiesta) 2.30.03.9
9th (9) Euan Thorburn/Paul Beaton (Lancer N) 2.30.18.6
10th (20) Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly (Citroen) 2.30.20.9
When Keith Cronin and his co driver Barry McNulty crossed the finish line in their Pirelli backed Subaru Impreza they joined a very select list of people who have won what has always been known as the Manx International but known now as the Rally Isle of Man. The drivers from Ireland who have won over the years are: Adrian Boyd: Cathal Curley: Frank Meagher and Eugene Donnelly. So many have tried to win but haven’t. It has always been a tough rally and this year’s was just as difficult, if not more so, than most due to the soaking wet conditions.
Keith’s winning margin at the end was over 2m on Gwyndaf Evans. Gwyndaf has won the last 2 rounds of the British Championship, now it is Keith Cronin’s turn and it certainly keeps the championship very much alive. Jonny Greer retains his lead on 62 points. Gwyndaf now has 58. Defending British Champion Cronin has 56 and Jason Pritchard who drove so well today to take a podium place is on 55. The next round is the Ulster Rally on the 20-21st August and then the final round is Rally Yorkshire where bonus points are in place.
When Keith brought his Impreza into the final service before the ramp ceremony he said. “Just to get to the end was an achievement. It was very tough and made harder by the conditions. I had to push hard today to keep my concentration. I never thought I would see the day when I would achieve a win here on the Isle of Man. There are some very famous names on the trophy. In overall terms I am very happy with the car, the team has got it bang on for this event. The Pirelli tyres worked well also except in the floods when we would really have needed forest gravel tyres!" Gwyndaf Evans, who has never won this event despite all his successes over the years, said when he brought his Lancer into the finish. “That was a proper tough rally. Once I gave Keith the 2 minutes I really wanted to finish 2nd. If I had put the car off again I would have looked a right idiot but there was no way I could close the 2m gap. He deserves the win. I have got to praise my team, they are getting it all together”.
At that Gwyndaf rushed off to see his son Elfyn who of course finished 7th o/a and 3rd in class in his Fiesta. Winner of that hotly contested class R2 was the young Finnish driver Jarkko Nikara in his Twingo and he said. “We had no real problems although we did go off the road on the last loop when we were braking downhill to a junction to the left. There was no big damage”.
Jason Pritchard, who finished 3rd o/a, told us. “The last stage was very difficult, pure fog, and we had clipped a wheel on the previous stage and switched to intermediate tyres, which made the going very difficult”. Best Manx crew was Nigel & Michaela Cannell who finished 11th o/a in their Lancer. Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly were the highest placed Citroen Racing Trophy crew. Mark Donnelly/Aidan Friel in their C2R2 Max were 2nd in the Citroens and 12th o/a. Molly Taylor, co driven by her mother Coral, were 3rd best Citroen. Euan Thorburn lost 30s approximately on the final stage when he smacked the side of his Lancer.
Finally for now our thanks to everyone who has supported and helped with the RallyNews service this weekend. Particular thanks to the Rally Press Officer Chris Boyde: Ciara Conlan who helped all the way through: Event Director Richard Bargery and his wife Anona who have been so good to us for many years. It is sad that Richard is now retiring from the rally – he and Anona will be very much missed.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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