MOTORSPORT Cork 20 Rally Report

The perfect warm-up for Sebastien Loeb

Cork was a buzz with people as the Cork 20 Rally drew nearer to starting. As confirmed the Citroen team would head the field with Sebastien Leob seeded at one, Mikko Hirvonen was the only BP Ford entry and would start at two while Dani Sordo, team mate of Loeb was down at three. But this was not just a warm-up for Rally Ireland, there was an Irish Tarmac Championship to win with Eugene (Genie) Donnelly and Mark Higgins set to go toe to toe over the 14 stages of the event.

The WRC regulars were not eligible for Irish tarmac points. This meant that all Donnelly had to do was finish within three places of Maxnman Higgins and he would seal back to back Irish tarmac championships.

Reigning world champion showed the rest of the field who was boss as he made the Citroen C4 dance through the tight and twisty Irish lanes. He set the fastest time on every stage in the rally and only once did Dani Sordo and Mikko Hirvonen join him at the top of the timesheets when they beat the bogey time on stage 13 Johns Bridge2.

Leg 1

Right from the off it was Sebastien Loeb who set the pace beating team-mate Dani Sordo by 12seconds, although the Spaniard was driving a Xsara. The word from the Citroen team was that they hadn't another C4 available. Mikko Hirvonen was a further 23seconds adrift. Loeb came in saying that he was happy but the stage was very slippy.

Moving across to the Irish Tarmac Championship - first blood went to the 'Genie', he lay in fourth overall 30 seconds behind Loeb but more importantly one second up on Mark Higgins.

Patrick Elliot was the first major casualty when he crashed out and blocked the very first stage. Both driver and navigator were reported to be OK.

Loeb was fastest on two, 11 seconds up on Sordo with Higgins a further three behind and Donnelly seven more adrift of the Manxman, an overshoot accounted for this lost time. Mikko Hirvonen had an awful second stage as his BP Ford Focus picked up a puncture losing 4minutes 30 seconds to rally leader Loeb as the young Finn changed the wheel in the stage. "It's such a shame that we got a puncture but we are here to test the car for Rally Ireland and we must get all the data we need", Hirvonnen told IMN.

Further down the field Colm Murphy had taken the lead in the GpN class.

Stages three and four were a repeat of the first two and again it was the flying Frenchman who was setting the pace. Loeb took 20 seconds out of Sordo on the second loop, while Hirvonen set third quickest time on four only 13s behind Loeb. The duel between Higgins and Donnelly continued with the Manxman taking 15 seconds out of Donnelly on stage three. Stage four was to see a reversal as Higgins lost 40s, letting the Irishman leapfrog him in the overall standings making his defence of the championship much stronger.

Halfway through Leg 1, Loeb was flying and there was to be no let up on stage five and six. Again the French genius set brilliant times and took another six seconds from Sordo on five and 14 on special stage six. Not only did the flying Frenchman and reigning world champion look quick he was also ultra neat.

The battle between Higgins and the 'Genie' was hotting up and after six there was only eight seconds in it. If the standings stayed like this Donnelly would be crowned as champion but there was a lot of mileage still to be tackled.

Stage seven and eight saw the same picture at the top of the leaderboard - 'Yer man Loeb' is in a different class according to the spectators and they were right, he again set fastest times on the last two tests of day one.

Loeb told IMN: "Today was good, we played with different suspension settings and the feeling in the car is good."

We caught the 'Genie' at a bowl of soup but he was more than happy to have a word with IMN. "The car is good, we had an overshoot early on and we had a wrong tyre choice but we're staying close to Higgins and that gives us a great chance to retain the Irish title. I would love to win it by beating Higgins but we can't risk it all by going gung-ho."

So the overall leaderboard looked like this after day one:

Sebastein Loeb	1.15.43.0
Dani Sordo	+1m29
Mark Higgins	+4m01
Eugene Donnelly	+4m06
Eamonn Boland	+6m26s
Mikko Hirvonen	+6m39
Tim McNulty	+6m39

Leg two

It was more of the same as day two began with Sebastien on 'it' again on the first two tests of the day. But the Citroen C4 had a small war wound - a grazed door showed that Loeb had been trying a 'wee' bit too hard on stage nine. Sordo was 10s slower than Loeb on nine and lost another 10s on stage 10 as Loeb beat the bogey time. Sordo complained that the sun hampered his run as he had to shield his eyes with his hand at times.

In the Irish tarmac fight Higgins was doing his utmost as he was quicker than Donnelly on both nine and stage 10.

Stage 11 and 12 saw Loeb again put in a masterclass. He was seven quicker than Hirvonen on stage 11 and 15s faster than the Finn on 12. Donnelly again dropped time to Higgins again but it was noticed that the 'Genie' looked as if he had backed off and was saving the car so that he could get to the finish of the rally.

With two stages of the rally left, the winner had been settled after the first stage,Loeb was on a different planet to the rest of the field. Reigning world champion Sebastien Loeb showed his class by beating the bogey on stage 13 along with Sordo and Hirvonnen and the set fastest time on 14. It was an amazing performance and the ultimate warm-up for Loeb and the Citroen world rally team in preparation for Rally Ireland.

The other major issue was the battle between Donnelly and Higgins, the Manxman finished in fourth overall and nearly a minute up on the 'Genie', but it was back to back titles for ther Irishman.

The showroom category went to Colm Murphy as he finished first in GpN

Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena	C4 WRC	2.02.09.5
Dani Sordo/Mark Marti	Xsara WRC	2.04.31.0
Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy	Impreza WRC	2.07.09.3
Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely	Impreza WRC	2.07.52.7
Mikko Hirvonen/Jarmo Lehtinen	Focus WRC	2.09.38.5
Eamonn Boland/Francis Regan	Impreza WRC	2.10.44.2
Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell	Impreza WRC	2.11.40.8
Aaron MacHale/Killian Duffy	Focus WRC	2.13.35.0
Michael Barrable/Dermot O'Gorman	Focus WRC	2.15.08.0
Gareth MacHale/Craig Parry	Focus WRC	2.16.13.1

 

 

IMN would like to thank our sponsors, Irish Ferries and Discover Ireland, for supporting our covergae of this event.

Simon McBride

Thanks goes to Ciarán McBride and Hugh McBride for additional help