Rally Ireland
[02 February 2009]
Rory Finishes against all odds
Warrenpoint driver Rory Byrne achieved what he set out to do at the start of Rally and that was to get to the finish. Competing against the best drivers in the world last Friday morning he and he co-driver Jeremy Patterson set out on what was to be their biggest test in rallying to date.
With the heavy rain the driving conditions on the Friday morning were treacherous and most drivers had selected the Pirelli slick tyre which for all crews including Rory and Jeremy was the wrong choice. After the first three stages the tyres were changed to Pirelli snow tyres which were able to perform better on the wet and muddy roads. Rory was as much as 50 seconds per stage faster on the second run through that mornings stages. Back in service in
Sligo the mechanics were frantically trying to repair the gearbox mounting on the Mitsubishi Evo 9 which had been damaged following a heavy landing after a bad jump. The worsening weather conditions forced the organisers to cancel the last two stages of day one which left Rory in 23rd place after day ones action.
Having worked through the night the Modern Tyre Service mechanics had repaired the broken gearbox and it was business as usual as Rory took to the first loop of stages around Fermanagh on the Saturday morning. Due to the heavy rain some of the electrics inside the car were not working correctly but as the day progressed these gremlins seemed to disappear. However just when Rory seemed to be getting back in the groove he picked up a puncture on the second loop of stages which lost the duo 5 minutes dropping them down to 26th place overnight.
Into the last day and having fought against the odds all the way mechanical problems raised their head again, after half way through the first stage on the Sunday morning the car was off a cylinder and down on power, could they nurse it to the end and get the finish they so badly wanted and more importantly deserved. The car held up for the final few stages for the Modern Tyre Service Rally Team to get a well deserved finish on an event that Rory and Jeremy described as one of the biggest endurance tests they had ever done.
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