Richard
Whelan and co-driver Colin Fitzgerald crossed the line of last
weekend’s Lord Bagenal Hotel Stages Rally to record their
first ever win in the Honda Cup Ireland. They took the lead on
stage six when early front-runners JP Logue/Patrick Durning retired
with a broken driveshaft.
The
Honda Cup Ireland features three classes: Production, for Group
N Cars under 2000cc; Super-Production, for modified cars up
to 1650 cc and Group A cars up to 1600cc; Open, for modified
cars up to 2050 cc and Group A/R3 cars up to 2000cc.
The
event, which started and finished in Leighlinbridge just south
of Carlow, featured eight stages on closed roads. These comprised
a loop of three stages run twice followed by a final loop of
two stages, the total providing a competitive distance of 135
kilometres.
Stage
one saw Logue/Durning (Open Class) set the fastest time, 21
seconds ahead of Jack Newman/Tom Murphy (Super-Production) who’s
car had developed a misfire. Whelan/Fitzgerald (Super-Production)
were also disappointed not to have a clean run through the opening
stage, when a puncture slowed them with four km to go, even
though they did achieve third-fastest time.
However,
more frustrated were Adrian Cannon/Jonathan Rooney (Production
Class) when they were held-up after a car in front of them crashed
and blocked the road. They then caught another competitor and
subsequently exited the stage exactly a minute behind the HCI
leaders.
Logue/Durning
extended their lead on SS2, whilst Newman/Murphy were pleased
that the misfire had now disappeared and were making up for
lost time. But for Whelan/Fitzgerald the aftermath of the puncture
was still affecting their times, when they found that their
spare was a wet-weather tyre – not ideal for a dry and
sunny day!
Even
after overshooting a junction, Newman/Murphy were the fastest
of the Hondas, going three seconds quicker than Logue/Durning
and Whelan/Fitzgerald who set equal times. However, after a
clipping a large bale and damaging their car’s front brakes
when negotiating a chicane, Logue/During were pleased that the
first service halt of the day followed.
Also
suffering brake problems and glad to be heading to the service
area were John Moran/Dave Cummins (Super-Production), whilst
Whelan/Fitzgerald were just relieved to still be in the event
after damaging their car when overtaking a slower competitor.
This relatively close call didn’t detract them from setting
the fastest HCI time on SS4 though, stopping the clocks three
seconds ahead of Newman/Murphy.
Because
they were seeded in the higher numbers, Moran/Cummins and Cannon/Rooney
were denied a run through stage four and were awarded a notional
time after it was cancelled.
For
HCI leaders Logue/Durning, the possibility of a driveshaft problem
came to light in SS4, only to become a reality on stage five
and bringing their rally to a premature end. In contrast, the
remaining four crews were settling into a faster pace, this
loop being the second run through the morning’s three stages.
However,
for Newman/Murphy the increased pace was short-lived, when the
misfire from SS1 returned with a vengeance and this time it
was terminal – the distributor later found to be the cause.
Cannon/Rooney reported a slipping clutch while Moran/Cummings
endured another cancelled stage and subsequent notional time.
With
just two stages remaining following the second service halt,
the remaining trio of Hondas all held onto their positions,
with each crew reporting a trouble-free run back to Leighlinbridge
for the finish. Final results showed that Whelan/Fitzgerald
were the clear winners by over three minutes, with Moran/Cummings
second and Cannon/Rooney third, who had closed the gap to just
11 seconds and were very pleased to have won the Production
Class.
“I
am absolutely delighted to take my first Honda Cup Ireland victory”,
said Whelan. “All of us had problems today, so it was a
case of keeping up the pace while keeping out of trouble. It’s
also good to be leading the series as well.”
With
no recorded finishers on the opening round, the current series
standings reflect the results from the Carlow event. Competitors
now prepare for round three, when the Honda Cup Ireland heads
to Dundalk for the North East Stages Rally on 4th July.
The
2010 Honda Cup Ireland is supported by: Pirelli, Euro M-Sport
and Meegan Motorsport.
For
further information visit: Honda
Cup Ireland
Round one results
1 Richard Whelan (Galway)/Colin FitzGerald Super-Production
1:14:53
2 John Moran (Claregalway)/Dave Cummins Super-Production 1:18:05
3 Adrian Cannon/Jonathan Rooney Production 1:18:16
Retirements
SS5 JP Logue (Letterkenny)/Richard Durning Open Driveshaft
SS6 Jack Newman (Ashbourne)/Tom Murphy Super-Production Ignition
Taken
from Rally.ie
