Subaru pair hold 59-second Rally of the Lakes lead

Eight stages into the Ordnance Survey Ireland/Gleneagle Hotel Rally of the Lakes, the third round of the Pirelli Irish Tarmac Championship, Derek McGarrity/Dermot O’Gorman (Subaru WRC) has a 59 second lead.

Their closest pursuers over this morning’s six stages, Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC) have dropped to fourth after their Toyota lost four wheel drive on the way to stage seven.

Meanwhile, Donie O’Sullivan/Paul Nagle (Ford Focus WRC) have moved into second, they made changes to the suspension settings of their car and as a result, it is performing much better.

They are having a great duel with the ford Focus WRC of Austin MacHale/Brian Murphy, O’Sullivan gaining valuable seconds on S.S. 7 to lead that particular battle by six seconds.

Eamonn Boland (Mitsubishi) is fourth followed by the unlucky Donnelly with J.J. Fleming (Subaru WRC) and Liam McCarthy (Toyota Corolla) next. The latter has a two minute road penalty looming and will drop down the order if it is imposed.

The top ten also includes Denis Cronin (Toyota Celica) and Johnny O’Sullivan (Escort WRC).

Times at end of S.S. 8:

D. McGarrity/D. O’Gorman (Subaru WRC) 59m. 15s.

D. O’Sullivan/P. Nagle (Ford Focus WRC) 1h. 00m. 14s.

A. MacHale/B. Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) 1h. 00m. 20s.

E. Boland/D. Morrissey (Mitsubishi WRC) 1h. 00m. 56s.

E. Donnelly/P. Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC) 1h. 01m. 07s.

J.J. Fleming/R. Ward (Subaru WRC) 1h. 02m. 32s.

L. McCarthy/K. Murphy (Toyota Corolla WRC) 1h. 02m. 48s.

D. Cronin/H. O’Sullivan (Toyota Celica) 1h. 03m. 02s.

J. O’Sullivan/P. Cashman (Escort WRC) 1h. 03m. 12s.