Boland Hijacked
Saturday, June 2nd, 2001

As they returned form the reconnaissance their Subaru recce car was stopped by three hijackers.

The hijackers, in what transpired to be a stolen Volvo, cut in front of the Irish duo forcing then to stop in a street in Charleroi.

Forcing both Boland and Nestor out of the car at gunpoint, they also robbed mobile phones from the Irish pair before they sped off.

It later emerged that no fewer than six cars were stolen in a ten minute period and all except one, a Mercedes, which ran out of petrol, were all seen heading towards the French border.

Authorities told Boland and Nestor there is a 70% recovery rate. Both Boland and Nestor are now back in Ireland.

Meanwhile, Roy White/Michael Patterson (Mitsubishi) are the top Irish performers in the rally.

After five stages they are seventh overall and third in Group N. George Tracey (Subaru) is ninth overall.

Patrick Elliott lost over 20 minutes and Rory O'Connor dropped time with a puncture - both are outside the top twenty.

Patrick Price (Mitsubishi) is still in the rally that being led by Pieter Tsjoen (Toyota Corola WRC).

Cork racing driver, Matthew Griffin produced his best ever qualifying performance in Silverstone today.

The teenager qualified on the third row of the grid for this evening fourth round of the British Formula Renault Championship. In his first full season in single seater racing, Griffin was in fine form and will line up along side finish ace, Heika Kovalainen.

Griffin's Manor Motorsport team mate, Richard Antinucci is in pole position with Danny Watts (Falcon) alongside. Another Cork driver, Robbie Coleman, has qualified on row eight.

In the Cyprus Rally, British drivers occupy the top two places at the end of Day 2.

Richard Burns (Subaru WRC) has a three second advantage over the Ford Focus WRC of Colin McRae with reigning world champion, Marcus Gronholm (Peugeot 206 WRC) another 15.6 seconds in arrears. Carlos Sainz (Ford) is fourth.