Nesbitt leads Rally of the Lakes

Andrew Nesbitt (Subaru WRC) remains at the top of the leaderboard of the Ordnance Survey Rally of the Lakes.

After the completion of 12 special stages, the Armagh driver is 35 seconds ahead of Eugene Donnelly in a Toyota Corolla WRC with Kevin Lynch, in a Subaru WRC), in third place – 47 seconds in arrears.

Donnelly cut Nesbitt’s overnight lead of 42 seconds to 29 seconds after he clipped vital seconds from his rival on the stages at Moll’s Gap, Beallaghbeama and Caragh Lake. However, Nesbitt clawed back six seconds from the stage at Shanera near Killorglin.

Second-placed Donnelly is in a little discomfort after he hurt his back when his Kingspan Toyota landed heavily over a jump.

Meanwhile, Derek McGarrity, third overnight, is slipping down the order, his Subaru is down on power and despite the best efforts of his technical team, they cannot, so far, trace the problem.

Kevin Lynch (Subaru WRC) is now in third. This is his first competitive outing in Killarney and he is making a great impression, having been fastest on Moll’s Gap this morning.

Lynch is 42 seconds ahead of the Subaru WRC of Eamonn Boland followed by McGarrity and Austin MacHale (Ford Focus WRC), who rounds off the top six.

Next in general classification is a trio of Subaru WRC’s – those of Tim McNulty, Denis Cronin and Tommy Graham.

Earlier today, there was a change in the Group N category with Terry McMonigle moving ahead of Colm Murphy. However, McMonigle lost over five minutes when his Mitsubishi was off the road on Stage 12 and Murphy (Subaru) has regained top spot in the showroom category.