McGarrity wins Circuit of Ireland

The Buy & Sell Circuit of Ireland Rally has been won by Derek McGarrity and co-driver, Derek O’Gorman (Subaru WRC).

After the 23 special stages, they had a winning margin of 35.9 seconds over the Toyota Corolla

WRC of Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely.

Donie O’Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Ford Focus WRC) were third and the Group N category was won by Dessie Keenan/Enda Sherry (Mitsubishi).

With identical times on the opening stage, Donnelly gained a few fleeting seconds on the next two stages, only for McGarrity to gleam some 16 seconds on two other stages.

That gave him a comfortable lead and he was able to tackle the spectator stage at St. Angelo with relative ease.

Donnelly’s second place promotes him to top spot in the Pirelli Championship – a point ahead of McGarrity.

O’Sullivan secured a significant third overall today ahead of Austin MacHale, also in a Ford Focus.

Today’s principal casualty was Garry Jennings. He crashed his Mitsubishi on the opening stage near his home.

In the Group N class Keenan took a comfortable win from the Subaru of Willie Fannin but Aaron MacHale was a late retirement with clutch problems.

1. D. McGarrity/D. O'Gorman (Subaru WRC) 2h. 37m.22.8s.

2. E. Donnelly/P. Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC) 2h. 37m.58.7s.

3. D. O'Sullivan/P. Nagle (Ford Focus) 2h. 40m. 09.9s.

4. A. MacHale/B. Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) 2h. 41m.07.8s

5. D. Doherty/M. Doherty (Subaru WRC) 2h. 43m. 31.4s.

6. D. Keenan/E. Sherry (Mitsubishi) 2h. 50m. 16.8s.

7. W. Fannin/M. Courtney (Subaru) 2h. 57m. 55.7s.

8. G. Woodcock/P. Harrison (Escort Maxi) 3h. 01m.49.9s.

9. C. Mavitty/N. Frazer (Mitsubishi) 3h. 05m. 21.9s.

10. A. Cathcart/D. Flanagan (Honda Integra) 3h. 08m.02.1s.