After what can only be described as a testing first day on the Rallye Monte Carlo, Irish driver Daniel Barry was glad to be back on course and fighting his way back up the leader board with co-driver Martin Brady.

After a catastrophic gearbox failure in the Barry Motorsport Evo9 on the last stage of Wednesday the team expected to be heading home today, not back up the leader board.

"In service this morning we sorted the brake problems we had been suffering throughout the day, which helped with my confidence in the stages - we had Ice, snow and wet tarmac to contend with so braking was a vital part of getting through" commented Daniel. "I like driving on snow, and we knew these stages were going to be the snowiest of the event, which enabled us to push quite hard"

However after the problems the team suffered on the opening leg they were way down the field behind much slower vehicles. "We were catching and passing a car each stage, sometimes two" said Martin Brady the co-driver to Daniel "the information we are getting back from the Ice Crew is certainly keeping us on the road, but a tyre choice is tricky as each stage is so different from the last and you are limited as to where and when you are permitted to change tyres".

Friday has a true Monte Carlo style sting in the tale, an 06:30 start for a122km road section, followed by a 30km stage and a 360km road section to the Monaco Harbour service area - after a regroup here the event restarts with 4 stages around the Coll du Turini, finishing during the early hours of Saturday morning.

Regular updates and photos will be available on the team website www.barrymotorsport.com and Facebook users can keep up-to-date throughout the days of the event on the "Barry Motorsport" page. We are also Twitter-ing via Rally.ie for the latest information if you are not registered…

For further information on the IRC - www.ircseries.com
For Further information on the Rallye Monte Carlo - www.acm.mc
Listen on World Rally Radio - www.wrc.com

FRIDAY'S TV TIMES
Eurosport, Europe's largest television channel, will show live coverage of four stages tomorrow (see below), ensuring viewers will be able to follow all of the action as it happens. Highlights of the day will also available at www.rally-irc.com

19:00-20:45: SS12 and SS13 LIVE Eurosport
23:00-00:45: SS14 and SS15 LIVE Eurosport

For further information throughout the event please contact Donna Harper
on +44 7711 094 309 or donna@teamcoordin8.com