Nesbitt leads Meteor Electrical Circuit of Ireland
Back in competitive action following an eight-month absence, Armagh’s Andrew Nesbitt has lost none of his pace.
Nesbitt and his Cork co-driver, James O’Brien in the McKinstry hired Subaru WRC have an overnight lead of 23.7 seconds from the similar Subaru of Derek McGarrity and his co-driver, Dermot O’Gorman.
Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely (Toyota Corolla WRC) are third – 17.1 seconds adrift.
McGarrity led after the opening spectator stage at St. Angelo but it was Donnelly that led after the completion of the first real stage, S.S. 2, Drumscollop.
Out on S.S. 3, Nesbitt became the third leader in as many stages and since then he never lost control of the rally - although he did have a moment when he clipped a bridge and damaged the steering mechanism.
Overnight, the Subaru WRC’s of Eamonn Boland and Kevin Lynch are fourth and fifth respectively followed by Tim NcNulty, who moved ahead of Austin MacHale, courtesy of his performance on the Super Special at St. Angelo.
MacHale has an upset stomach and it is clearly affecting his performance.
The top ten also includes Peadar Hurson, Sean Devine and Group N leader, Gary Jennings in his Mitsubishi. In the showroom category, he has a slim advantage over Seamus Leonard, also in a Mitsubishi.
The main retirements today were Maurice Gass and Gareth Jones.
Tomorrow second leg features nine stages, the majority in the Monaghan/Clones/Cootehill region.
A. Nesbitt/J. O’Brien (Subaru WRC) 36m. 20.6s.
D. McGarrity/D. O’Gorman (Subaru WRC) 36m. 44.3s.
E. Donnelly/P. Kiely (Toyota Corolla) 37m. 01.4s.
E. Boland/F. Regan (Subaru WRC) 37m. 13.6s.
K. Lynch/G. Noble (Subaru WRC) 37m. 14.1s.
T. NcNulty/E. O’Donnell (Subaru WRC) 37m. 26.6s.
A. MacHale/B. Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) 37m. 26.7s.
P. Hurson/G. Patterson (Subaru WRC) 37m. 30.8s.
S. Devine/J. McKee (Subaru WRC) 38m. 47.8s.
G. Jennings/R. Kennedy (Mitsubishi) 39m. 02.0s.
