Nesbitt leads Donegal International rally

On all but one of today’s six stages Andrew Nesbitt has dominated the time sheets and after he reeled in early leaders, Peadar Hurson and Eamonn Boland, he went on to accumulate an overnight advantage of 28 seconds over the similar Subaru WRC of Derek McGarrity with Eugene Donnelly, also in a Subaru, third – a further second behind.

Fri, 20 Jun, 2003 - 20:25

Peadar Hurson set the pace on the opening stage where he was two seconds quicker than McGarrity and Eamonn Boland, who tied for second.

Boland led after the second stage where Austin MacHale lost over seven minutes with a puncture and Hurson lost 90 seconds with a spin.

Nesbitt punched in fastest times on all the remaining stages and an impresive performance on the final stage saw him double his lead. Second placed McGarrity had intercom problems.

Eamonn Boland was fourth but a two-minute road penalty saw him drop to 13th. place overnight.

Maurice Gass slotted into fourth from local Donegal heroes, Paul Harris and Daniel Doherty.

Also in the top ten are Welsh driver, Gareth Jones in a Subaru and Peadar Hurson, who recorded impresive times to move quickly up the leader board.

Group N leader, Seamus Leonard (Subaru) and rival, Roy White (Mitsubishi) complete the overnight top ten at the end of the first of three legs.

1. A. Nesbitt/J. O'Brien (Subaru WRC) 40m. 19s.

2. D. McGarrity/D. O'Gorman (Subaru WRC) 40m. 47s.

3. E. Donnelly/P. Kiely (Subaru WRC) 40m. 48s.

4. M. Gass/G. McMonagle (Subaru WRC) 41m. 13s.

5. P. Harris/J. McCafferty (Subaru Impreza) 41m. 17s.

6. D. Doherty/M. Doherty (Subaru WRC) 42m. 00s.

7. G. Jones/R. James (Subaru Impreza) 42m. 02s.

8. P. Hurson/I. Porter (Subaru WRC) 42m. 20s.