Nesbitt leads Shell Donegal international rally

It was a day of changing fortunes for the competitors in the Letterkenny-based Shell Donegal International Rally, the fourth round of the Pirelli Irish Tarmac Championship.

At the conclusion of the second leg, Andrew Nesbitt (Mitsubishi WRC) holds a 7.6 second lead over Mark Higgins in a similar car.

Gareth MacHale (Ford Focus WRC) is third, 49.7 seconds further behind.

Overnight leader Kevin Lynch led until today’s ninth stage where his Subaru collected a puncture.

Meanwhile, Andrew Nesbitt, who moved into second after the day’s opening pair of stages, moved into the lead.

Initially, Gareth MacHale (Ford Focus) was his closest rival, but he overshot a junction on S.S. 13 and lost some 20 seconds in the process and slipped to third.

Mark Higgins (Mitsubishi), like Nesbitt, was on a strong charge and he duly moved into second place. Prior to the final loop of stages, he was 5.5 seconds behind Nesbitt with MacHale third.

McGarrity maintained fourth place with early leader, Lynch in sixth even though his Subaru developed a drive shaft problem.

On the closing three stages, Nesbitt and Higgins traded fastest times giving the former a 6.3 second advantage ahead of tomorrow’s final six stages.

There were two major retirements today. Tim McNulty, second at the beginning of the day, lost time with two punctures and then slid off on S.S. 12, his Subaru was marooned for over 10 minutes. He subsequently decided to retire. Gareth Jones crashed on S.S. 10, in an effort to rejoin the stage and he burnt the clutch in his Subaru.

Shaun Gallagher (Mitsubishi) leads Group N from Roy White, also in a Mitsubishi, Garry Jennings has retired.

Colin McRae (Metro 6R4) leads the national category.

1. A. Nesbitt/J. O'Brien (Mitsubishi WRC) 1h. 40m. 57.3s.

2. M. Higgins/R. Kennedy (Mitsubishi WRC) 1h. 41m. 04.9s.

3. G. MacHale/P. Nagle (Ford Focus WRC) 1h. 54m. 54.6s.

4. D. McGarrity/C. Patterson (Subaru WRC) 1h. 41m. 59.7s.

5. K. Lynch/A. Harryman (Subaru WRC) 1h. 42m. 15.3s.

6. M. Wilson/M. Orr (Ford Focus WRC) 1h. 43. 10.5s.

7. E. Boland/F. Regan (Ford Focus WRC) 1h. 43m. 30.6s.

8. A. MacHale/B. Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) 1h. 43m. 55.2