Stafford takes the lead after SS5

Right, after a deep inhale of breath, we can now see the wood for the trees after SS5. James Stafford has repeated his fastest stage time on SS4 into SS5, he took a further 1.6″ out of Daniel Cronin to have the near minimum of gaps back to Cronin, the gap is a massive 0.2″, less than the time it takes the average person to sneeze. What we can see on this stage is that Stuart D’arcy and Marty Toner have dropped out of the times, the biggest beneficiary of all this seems to be Richard Moffett in the Starlet, who has moved up three places into 9th overall. Andrew Purcell is continuing his charge back up the field and is now up to 6th, leapfrogging Daniel Barry. It’s the first time we are seeing a little bit of daylight between our top two, 21.2″ back to 3rd, but less than 22″ between 3rd and 7th, interesting times ahead.
O/A Car Driver/Codriver Make Class Pos SS5 Road Total Diff 1st Diff Prev
1 (+1) 1 James Stafford/Tomas Scallan Darrian T90 GTR 14 O/A 7:38.5 0:00 35:04.0
2 (-1) 2 Daniel Cronin/Donnchadh Burke VW Polo GTI R5 5 O/A 7:40.1 0:00 35:04.2 0:00.2 0:00.2
3 (=) 14 Jason McSweeney/Liam Brennan Ford Fiesta 5 O/A 7:45.8 0:00 35:25.4 0:21.4 0:21.2
4 (=) 15 Tommy Doyle/Liam Moynihan Hyundai I20 R5 5 1 7:44.8 0:00 35:28.7 0:24.7 0:03.3
5 (=) 6 Gary Kiernan/John McGrath Ford Fiesta 5 2 7:45.6 0:00 35:37.2 0:33.2 0:08.5
6 (+1) 4 Andrew Purcell/Shane Buckley VW Polo GTI R5 5 3 7:40.7 0:00 35:51.7 0:47.7 0:14.5
7 (-1) 3 Daniel Barry/Andy Hayes Skoda Fabia R5 5 4 7:50.9 0:00 35:57.0 0:53.0 0:05.3
8 (+1) 5 Enda O’Brien/John Butler VW Polo GTI R5 5 5 7:54.8 0:00 36:19.9 1:15.9 0:22.9
9 (+3) 8 David Moffett/Martin Connolly Toyota Starlet RWD 14 1 7:54.2 0:00 36:39.7 1:35.7 0:19.8
10 (=) 16 Richard Moore/Enda Kennedy Ford Escort Mk2 14 2 8:04.0 0:00 36:44.7 1:40.7 0:05.0
11 (+2) 11 Mark Alcorn/Darren O’Brien Ford Escort Mk2 14 3 7:56.1 0:00 36:48.3 1:44.3 0:03.6
12 (-1) 10 Damian Toner/Kevin Horgan Ford Escort RS Mk2 14 4 8:13.3 0:00 36:57.5 1:53.5 0:09.2
13 (+3) 21 Patrick McHugh/Derry Long Ford Escort Mk2 14 5 8:11.6 0:00 37:23.8 2:19.8 0:26.3
14 (+1) 27 John Bonner/Johnny Baird Ford Escort Mk2 14 6 8:18.4 0:00 37:29.6 2:25.6 0:05.8
15 (+4) 25 Leon Galvin/Ger Foley Ford Escort Mk2 13 1 8:16.6 0:00 37:39.6 2:35.6 0:10.0
16 (+4) 29 Tomas O’Rourke/Ciara Griffin Mitsubishi Evo 9 4 1 8:18.5 0:00 37:46.2 2:42.2 0:06.6
17 (+5) 26 Shane Murray/Gary Hade Ford Fiesta 5 6 8:16.6 0:00 37:48.5 2:44.5 0:02.3
18 (-1) 23 Keith Power/Thomas Hayes Ford Fiesta 5 7 8:34.8 0:00 37:50.0 2:46.0 0:01.5
19 (+4) 44 Liam McMullan/Patrick Durning Ford Fiesta R5 5 8 8:17.4 0:00 37:52.7 2:48.7 0:02.7
20 (+5) 40 Tim Flood/Anthony Smith Ford Escort 13 2 8:16.6 0:00 37:53.5 2:49.5 0:00.8
21 (+3) 55 Brian Lavelle/Piaras O’Callaghan Ford Escort 13 3 8:22.0 0:00 37:58.7 2:54.7 0:05.2
22 (-1) 35 Casey Jay Coleman/Lorcan Moore Ford Fiesta 2 1 8:27.9 0:00 37:59.2 2:55.2 0:00.5
23 (+6) 46 Alan Doherty/Colm Doherty Toyota Starlet 13 4 8:16.6 0:00 38:07.4 3:03.4 0:08.2
24 (+4) 33 Barry Murphy/Conal Doherty Mitsubishi Evo x 20 1 8:31.5 0:00 38:17.3 3:13.3 0:09.9
25 (+1) 38 James Boland/John McCay Ford Fiesta 4 2 8:36.0 0:00 38:18.5 3:14.5 0:01.2
26 (+4) 47 Kenneth Cullinane/Robert O’Regan Ford Escort Mk2 13 5 8:25.3 0:00 38:23.5 3:19.5 0:05.0
27 (+4) 53 James John Wall/Pauline Knowles Ford Escort 13 6 8:25.5 0:00 38:26.0 3:22.0 0:02.5
28 (+9) 28 Brendan McDaid/Damien McGettigan Ford Ford Fiesta R5 5 9 8:31.9 0:00 39:01.5 3:57.5 0:35.5
29 (+9) 58 Mathew Dance/Jason Davies Ford Escort Mk2 14 7 8:29.9 0:00 39:03.0 3:59.0 0:01.5
30 (+3) 34 James Bradley/Maria Kehoe Honda Civic 13 7 8:55.9 0:00 39:15.7 4:11.7 0:12.7
31 (+5) 37 Jason O’Brien/Ger Clancy Ford Escort 13 8 8:53.5 0:00 39:18.3 4:14.3 0:02.6
32 (+9) 45 Mac Walsh/Damien Sheridan Ford Escort Mk2 13 9 8:41.9 0:00 39:25.1 4:21.1 0:06.8
33 (+10) 51 John O’Rourke/David Doyle Opel Corsa Rally 4 2 2 8:37.6 0:00 39:27.5 4:23.5 0:02.4
34 (+8) 43 Niall Fitzpatrick/Matthew Reade Ford Escort Mk1 12 1 8:42.4 0:00 39:27.7 4:23.7 0:00.2
35 (+9) 59 Tommy Foley/William Tracey Honda Civic 11F 1 8:37.7 0:00 39:30.4 4:26.4 0:02.7
36 (+10) 52 Bobby Hennessy/Sarah Hennessy Ford Escort Mk2 13 10 8:46.1 0:00 39:45.2 4:41.2 0:14.8
37 (+12) 49 Joe Connolly/Jeff Case Hyundai I20 R5 5 10 8:48.0 0:00 40:04.0 5:00.0 0:18.8
38 (+18) 64 Philip Hamilton/Joe Comerford Ford Escort Mk2 12 2 8:49.9 0:00 40:23.9 5:19.9 0:19.9
39 (+61) 134R Ian Roche/Dylan Nacey Ford Fiesta R5 5 11 12:40.1 0:00 59:29.5 24:25.5 19:05.6
40 (+59) 104R Ben Bowler/Patrick Bowler Honda Civic Type R 11F 2 13:37.7 0:00 1:00:01.5 24:57.5 0:32.0
41 (+61) 118R Ger Kelly/Des Curtis Peugeot 205 GTi 10 1 11:50.0 0:00 1:00:42.5 25:38.5 0:41.0
42 (+63) 30R Paidi Hamill/Mark McGeehan Ford Fiesta R5 5 12 12:40.1 0:00 1:05:02.3 29:58.3 4:19.8