Alastair
Fisher and co-driver Rory Kennedy's fourth place finish on round
three of the Citroen Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, the Killarney
Rally of the Lakes, puts Alastair on top overall in the driver's
championship, and this driving a Group N Production based Mitsubishi
Evo 9! After the disappointment of a retirement on the previous
weekend's Pirelli International Rally in England, Alastair put
it all behind him, as he switched back to tarmac for the two day
Killarney International. This event used some all time classic
stages such as Molls Gap, and Caragh Lake.
Indeed
Alastair's late Uncle Bertie won this classic event six times,
with Rory Kennedy in the hot seat, and Alastair was doing the
family name proud with some impressive early stage times. By
stage two, he was fifth overall only behind four World Rally
Cars (WRC), and after stage three Gortnagane 1, he had moved
into third place overall, behind the WRC cars of Tim McNulty
and Daragh O'Riordan.
Conditions were changing with localised rain showers making
the stages greasy, and tyre choice was not easy. "The conditions
were very mixed, but one thing I have to say about is that I
was very happy with our tyre choices all weekend. We were on
a nice pace on day one. We had a fastest overall time on stage
6, Gortnagane 2, and couple of second fastest times, which I
was happy with."
Indeed
the young Co.Tyrone based Team UK driver ended day one in third
place overall, just 6.3 seconds behind Denis Cronin's WRC Subaru,
with Aaron MacHale's WRC Focus 12 seconds in arrears. Day two
started with the fast Shanera and sweeping Caragh Lake tests,
and with conditions drying out, the more powerful cars were
to have an advantage. "We were very content with our position,
and not trying to catch Denis in front, as we were in a good
position for championship points. We were swopping times all
day with Aaron MacHale. Going into the second last stage he
was two seconds behind us, but he got ahead of us by two seconds
going into the last test. We decided to just keep at the same
pace, when I damaged the left rear wheel. It was coming into
a square right and the car stepped out of line under braking
on gravel, and I had to flick it sideways to try and avoid going
off. We still clipped the bank however and the damage was done."
It
was a delay that cost third place, dropping to fourth at the
finish behind Craig Breen in the Super 2000 Fiesta. "We
lost 1 minute 20 seconds and really gifted Craig six points,
but that's the way it goes."
Nevertheless
it's another excellent result, fourth overall, first Group N
car home, and leading Ireland's premier rally series. "We
had a good set up for the fast stages, the car ran faultlessly,
we had no real moments except for the final stage, and now I'm
looking forward to the next round of the British Championship
the Jim Clark. I'm hoping that with the next three British rounds
on tarmac that our Irish Tarmac campaign so far will help us."
A
three week gap gives the team time to prepare for the trip to
Scotland, and once again Alastair is sure to raise a few eyebrows
as he continues his fast 2010 rallying season.
For
all the latest news, check Alastair's website - www.alastairfisher.com
Issued by Andrew Bushe Promotions www.andrewbushe.com
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