Elliott out to enjoy WRC event

Long stages at night are the main attraction of Rally Ireland for Paul Elliott, the only Cavan man taking part this year. Paul also competed on the rally on its first time in the world championship (2007) and when it ran as a WRC candidate event. 'The reason I"m doing it this year is that I had so much fun in 2007,' he said. 'The stages are long, it"s a real challenge and there are night stages too, which is a bit different from the standard formula. 'It"s a long event and to make it through to the finish is an achievement, a bit of a struggle even.' Last time round Paul and his regular co-driver Brian Doherty from Killarney held 35th place on the first two days but four punctures on the final day dropped them 10 places by the finish back in Sligo. Why so many punctures? 'The works drivers were making cuts [on the corners] that the Irish drivers could hardly believe could be done,' said Paul, 'and then we had to cut too or risk going off the road. 'Back then the factory cars had mousse in their tyres so they didn"t get punctures, and the privateers didn"t. The moral of the story would be: carry two spares.' Paul added that from a personal point of view he wasn"t entering the rally in a serious competitive mode. 'I know I"ll be beaten by most of the international drivers and with only 40 crews it will be a struggle not to finish last!' he said. He placed more emphasis on the fact that the rally was in his home country than home county [stages two and five are near Dowra and Glangevlin], but his 'real feeling is that this is possibly my last chance to do a world rally... it depends if Ireland is successful in getting it back again'. Acknowledging that it was the most expensive event in Ireland, Paul considered the cost worthwhile: 'It"s unique, the only other rally in Ireland you can drive on at night is the Ulster, and the length too - some of the stages are 30km and a normal stage in Ireland is 15 or 16km. 'I suppose it"s a little bit different, you"re following in the footsteps of the world and works drivers, you get to see what they do, get to compare times with them... which is embarrassing! It"ll be fun. If we break down on the first stage it"ll be a disaster, but we"re not out to set the world on fire, we"re out to enjoy it.' Robbie McGurk Motorsport Services is looking after Paul"s GpN Mitsubishi Evo 9, sponsored by James Elliott Construction and Quinn Direct.