McNulty leads Cork 20 international rally

With three stages remaining in the Murphy Construction Cork 20 International Rally, the final and deciding round of the Pirelli Irish Tarmac Championship, Tim NcNulty/Eugene O’Donnell (Subaru WRC) hold a 49-second advantage over the Toyota Corolla WRC of Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC).

Derek McGarrity/Dermot O’Gorman (Subaru) are a further eight seconds in arrears.

McNulty was quickest over the opening stage this morning and McGarrity added two more vital seconds to his advantage of 24 seconds.

On stage 10, Moll Carthy’s Bridge, Donnelly cut the margin to just two seconds – McGarrity explained that he "gave" his opponent some of the time with an overshoot, a problematic wiper and a brief stall.

Liam McCarthy, despite struggling a little, holds fourth but Ollie O’Donovan, who actually held fifth overnight is finally out of the evenT with transmission problems.

His demise has elevated Denis Cronin (Toyota Celica) into fifth place followed by overseas driver, Tony Davies (Subaru WRC|) .

Out on Stage 11, Eamonn Boland, posted the quickest time, he lost some six minutes yesterday and is now up to seventh place.

Meanwhile, in the chase for the Pirelli Irish Tarmac series, Donnelly has moved eight seconds clear of McGarrity and whatever driver finishes head of that duo will win the Irish Tarmac Championship.

Elsewhere, in the Group N category, James O’Sullivan (Mitsubishi) and Willie Fannin (Subaru) share the lead while Phil Collins (Escort) leads the National section of the Murphy Construction Cork “20” International Rally.

Provisional positions after S.S. 11:

1. T. NcNulty/E. O’Donnell (Subaru WRC) 1h. 40m. 55s.

3.E. Donnelly/P. Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC) 1h. 41m. 44s.

2. D. McGarrity/D. O’Gorman (Subaru WRC) 1h. 41m. 52s.

4.L. McCarthy/K. Murphy (Subaru WRC) 1h. 45m. 00s.

5. D. Cronin/H. O'Sullivan (Toyota Celica) 1h. 46m. 31s.

6. T. Davies/J. Kelly (Subaru WRC) 1h. 46m. 56s.

7. E. Boland/F. Regan (Subaru WRC) 1h. 48m.l 13s.

=8 J. O’Sullivan/B. Duggan (Mitsubishi) 1h. 48m. 45s.

W. Fannin/M. Courtney (Subaru) 1h. 48m. 45s.

10. P. White/A. Moran (Subaru WRC) 1h. 50m. 30s.