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| Townparks Glens of Antrim |
| RALLY NEWS No.2 - Fornenst Ballycastle - Tuesday @ 12:57:42 |
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UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 1 GLENTAISIE
1st (3) Derek McGarrity/James McKee (Impreza WRC) 2.55.3
2nd (2) Connor McCloskey/Francis Regan (Impreza WRC) 2.58.6
3rd (1) Sean Devine/Damien Duffin (Impreza WRC) 3.00.6
4th (14) Wesley Patterson/Martin McGarrity (Escort) 3.13.6
5th (4) John & Mandy McKeown (Escort Cos) 3.14.5
6th (18) Camillus Bradley/Danny O'Neill (Escort) 3.15.0
7th (9) Neil McCance/Sean Ferris (Lancer N) 3.17.9
8th (19) Rodney White/Sorcha Kelly (Escort) 3.19.5
9th (17) Des Moore/Damien Connolly (Escort) 3.19.6
10th (8) Cathal Rogers/Eoighan Rogers (Lancer N) 3.22.3
There were still patches of frost on the roads as the leading cars tackled the opening stage of this Townparks Glens of Antrim\Rally. As can be seen above it was Derek McGarrity who was fastest and he commented at stage finish. “I thought we were a bit slow, there’s plenty left, I think we had the chicane in the wrong place in the notes”. First on the road Sean Devine said. “Bit cautious at the start, cold tyres and cold road, slippy”.
Connor McCloskey reinforced Devine’s thoughts when he brought his Subaru into stage finish and remarked on just how slippy it was in places. John McKeown was next down the stage and he said he was just bedding himself in, John a few seconds off the fastest times. Kieran Graffin is driving a Lancer today and he was cautious through that fist stage, his time 3.24.6. Sean Haveron was due to be next down the 3.2 mile stage but instead it was the silver Lancer of Cathal Rogers and he reported that Sean’s Escort was off the road at the jumps under the trees just at the finish of the stage. It would appear Sean and co driver Vincent Fergus were both OK. There were some people waving Cathal down and he reckons it cost him a few seconds.
Fastest Group N was Neil McCance who was 5s up on Cathal but Neil slowed at the Haveron accident as well. This is a new streamlined McCance we have today, the steel specialist from Belfast having lost 2 stone in weight over the last few months. Alan Carmichael is another fighting for the group N championship here today, but transport contractor Alan got off to a bad start when he thumped the front of his Lancer on a square left not long after the start of the stage. The car seems slightly crumpled at the front and it probably cost Alan at least 10s. John Walker set a time of 3.25.3 so he’s not too far off the group N pace.
In the battle for 2 wheel drive honours Wesley Patterson reported a good clean run over that opening stage and really his time was pretty sensational. Wesley has Martin McGarrity co-driving, not Ruth Guest as it says on the entry list. Adrian Hetherington emerged from the stage with the front of his green Escort damaged, evidence of Adrian having a big moment over those jumps near the finish of the stage. There was no sign of James Kennedy’s Escort at stage finish and we have heard that some further cars have gone off at the jumps in the stage, but we don’t know for sure what has happened to James.
Some more times coming in include Gerard McFall 3.14: Declan McNaughton 3.17: Colm McFall 3.18: All times good enough for the top 10 but have to be confirmed. On Rally Japan at the end of Leg 2 Hirvonen leads by 15s from Latvala with Loeb’s Citroen 3rd 53s behind Latvala’s Ford. Henning Solberg out with suspension damage and Petter Solberg off and out. (WRC Info courtesy of stagetimes.com). |
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