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For
immediate release: 26 May 2009
Cookstown's
John McGlaughlin conquers in Cavan!
Cookstown's
John McGlaughlin finished in an incredible third overall and first
in Group N at Sunday's Cavan Stages Rally!
The McGlaughlin's Bakery Mitsubishi Lancer pilot made a successful
switch to Pirelli tyres to come home with an astounding podium
position under his belt, despite some car setup problems during
the early stages.
"It's amazing the difference that tyres can make to the setup,"
McGlaughlin said. "The car wasn't handling too well during
the first loop of stages - it wasn't soaking up the bumps very
well at the front. It was another learning curve and we lost a
few seconds through stages one and two, but managed to claw some
time back on the final stage before service."
The McNeill Motorsport mechanics pounced on the car in a bid to
sort John's errant handling Mitsubishi. After a few changes, John
and navigator Crawford Henderson returned to the stages, only
to encounter another set of problems.
"The handing problems at the front had been cured,"
McGlaughlin explained, "but now we were having issues with
the rear. I also got a bit carried away at a hairpin where we
spun and had to reverse, so we lost another five seconds."
John was disappointed with the time loss and on the following
stage, he caught another competitor who was struggling with a
broken driveshaft. Although the stricken crew promptly pulled
over to allow John past, the Cookstown driver lost a few more
seconds as he struggled to find grip with two of his wheels stuck
on a grass verge!
After stage five, McGlaughlin was sixth overall but despite his
dramas, he was only 11 seconds behind the Group N category leader.
A clean run through the sixth stage saw that gap reduced to 10
seconds, and with three stages remaining, John also found himself
lying in fourth overall.
"I knew there was more time to come if we could get the car
setup sorted out," McGlaughlin explained. "And in final
service, the McNeill Motorsport boys did a fantastic job. They
went through all of the suspension settings to get something that
would work with the tyres, and one mile into stage seven, I knew
she was perfect!"
With confidence at an all time high, John powered his Hilltop
Fuels and Bush Filling Station Mitsubishi Lancer through the stage
an incredible 12 seconds faster than the early Group N leader.
Suddenly, it was John and Crawford who were leading the category,
nabbing third overall in the process!
With two stages remaining, John knew he had to keep the pressure
on, and another fastest Group N time on the penultimate test saw
him emerge with a five second lead over his production category
rival. Only one stage lay between the Cookstown driver and category
victory, but that final test had a real sting in the tail.
"I was flat in fifth gear approaching a series of crests
and fast corners," John recalled. "I was slightly off
line coming over the crests and caught some gravel at the side
of the road. The car stepped out of line in the corner and we
went down the road sideways at over 100mph. Then the tyres gripped
and we went sideways the other way! Thankfully, the road was quite
wide so we got away with it but it was very scary!"
Despite the final stage dramas, John still managed to set another
fastest time in his class, and he secured third overall, as well
as first in Group N! The event, which was also a counting round
of the Irish Evo Challenge, saw the Sunoco Fuels crew claim maximum
points in what was their first outing in the series.
"It was a brilliant day," John enthused. "Once
we managed to get the car setup to work with the Pirelli tyres,
everything worked really well. I also made a few changes to my
pace notes before the event, which also helped to make a big difference.
I really enjoyed it so hopefully we will enter a few more rounds
of the Evo Challenge later this year."
ENDS.
Regards,
Jonathan MacDonald
MediaJAM Communications
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