McGarrity dominates opening day of Circuit of Ireland Rally

Dominating the six stages of the opening leg of the Buy & Sell Circuit of Ireland Rally, Derek

Sat, 10 Apr, 2004 - 19:06

Dominating the six stages of the opening leg of the Buy & Sell Circuit of Ireland Rally, Derek

McGarrity/Derek O’Gorman (Subaru WRC) have built up a lead of 23.7 seconds over the Toyota Corolla WRC Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely.

Donie O’Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Ford Focus WRC) hold an impresive third.

Dessie Keenan/Enda Sherry (Mitsubishi) leads Group N.

McGarrity eked almost two and a half seconds on today’s final spectator stage and is in a strong

position entering tomorrow’s second leg of ten stages.

Donnelly, like McGarrity reported no real problems while Donie O’Sullivan who slipped to fourth on the penultimate stage, has reclaimed third at the expense of Austin MacHale, the latter again dropping time on the St. Angelo spectator stage.

On his first rally sine Donegal last June, Daniel Doherty (Subaru WRC) ended the day in fifth.

In a pulsating battle for Group honours, Dessie Keenan has a nine second advantage over the similar Mitsubishi of Garry Jennings, who lots considerable time on Stage five when he was slowed by a fellow competitor.

The overnight top ten also includes Aaron MacHale (Mitsubishi) and Colm Murphy (Subaru).

Today’s principal retirements were Laukkanen and Tim McNulty.

1. Derek McGarrity/D. O’Gorman (Subaru WRC) 34m.

46.9s.

2. Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC)

35m. 10.6s.

3. Donie O’Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Ford Focus) 35m.

34.7s.

4. Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) 35m.

45.1s

5. Daniel Doherty/M. Doherty (Subaru WRC) 36m. 00.2s.

6. Dessie Keenan/Enda Sherry (Mitsubishi) 37m. 29.4s.