Donnelly leads Mourne rally, James in lead in Wexford

Northern Ireland’s, Eugene Donnelly, driving a Toyota Celica ST205, is continuing his recent fine form as he leads the Formula Karting Mourne Rally.

Donnelly has led from this morning’s first stage. Midway through the rally, he is some 30 seconds ahead of the Escort Cosworth of David Armstrong.

Robin Philips, in his first outing in a Toyota Corolla WRC, is another 10 seconds in arrears.

Derek McGarrity, the pre-event favourite, lots time early on with power steering difficulties, however, he is clawing his way back up the leader board and is now in fourth place - over 45 seconds off the lead.

Meanwhile, in Wexford, local Gorey driver, David James (Ford Escort) is one stage away from banishing the victory hoodoo. Three times in recent years, he has finished second.

Entering the final third run of the stage, he has a 29 second advantage over Carlow driver, John Nolan. Liam Wall, another local driver, posted the second fastest time on the first run but a blown engine on the second timed run has sidelined his Escort.

All of the crews are reporting loose gravel on the stage and with a drizzle descending, the final run

should prove interesting.

In the Acropolis Rally, Britons Colin McRae (Ford) and Richard Burns (Peugeot) hold the top two places. The gap between them stands at 25.1 seconds after the eleventh stage.

Yesterday, Irish crew, Niall McShea / Michael Orr retired from the World Junior category when their RML Opel Corsa developed mechanical problems.