Ulsterman Ryan Barrett and locally based co-drover Paul McCann (MkII Ford Escort) lead the historic Rallee Classicagh section of Rally Isle of Man powered by Microgaming, after last nights wet and mist-enveloped opening six stages.
Last years winner Darren Moon from Leeds crashed his Escort out of the event on the final stage of the night, Ravensdale.
It leaves Barrett a large margin of 1m28s ahead of Will Onions/Dave Williams, with multiple former British Historic Champions David Stokes/Guy Weaver third, having led after the opening Marine Drive test before Barrett blazed to stage wins on four of the next five closed-roads stages.
Guy Woodcock/Graham Dance hold fourth, with John Kirkpatrick/Martyn Quine the first all-local and first non-Escort crew in fifith in their Sunbeam Lotus.
Santon husband and wife Nigel and Michaela Cannell top the Manx International Rally, having led from the outset, however by a reduced margin of 3.5 seconds.
The Mitsubishi Evo IX pairing were fastest on the opening two tests at Marine Drive and Ellerslie, and by the time the crews reached the Villa Marina stage on Douglas promenade had built up a 19s advantage over TEG Sport Subaru crew Arron Newby/Rob Fagg.
By then however Andrew Leece/Graham Fargher (Evo VI) really had the hammer down, powering to fastest time on each of the last four stages of the night to move to within striking distance.
Newby holds third after admitting to just “getting though it” in the difficult conditions, with fourth placed Steve Colley reporting an off-the-scale temperature problem on his Evo VIII that he suspected may be a head gasket issue.
Last years winners Steve Quine/Richard Skinner spent their evening familiarising themselves with their Evo IX and sit in fifth place with Connor Corkill/Mark Perryman rounding out the top six as Connor switches to a Subaru from his usual historic cars.
Friday is a 13-stage day, headlined by extended Castletown stages in the evening, finishing at the Southern 100 start/finish line and the Shore Hotel, Gansey respectively. Before that the 12 hour day starts with side by side start line for two separate stages at St Marks, with one also featuring roads used more than once on a loop. The same stages complete the day, heading into darkness.
…and best of all, the sun is forecast to put in an appearance!
