Local crew lead West Cork Rally
The local crew of Liam McCarthy/Kieran Murphy, in their Toyota Corolla WRC, have a 33-second lead at the end of the first leg of the Quality Hotels West Cork Rally in Clonakilty.
They head the Welsh pair of John Dalton/Gwynfor Jones (Darrian) with former winners Denis Cronin/Helen O'Sullivan (Subaru WRC), a further 5.8 seconds behind in third.
McCarthy made the best start and held a 5.9-second lead over the impressive Keith Cronin in his Group N Mitsubishi.
However, Cronin lost almost two minutes when he slid off the road and into a field on the second test.
That allowed Jim Harrison (Subaru) slot into second with Dalton and Denis Cronin next on the leaderboard.
On the repeat of the stages, McCarthy and Denis Cronin traded fastest times with the former holding a 29.6 second advantage at the half mark of today's eight stages.
Cronin moved into second after the stages at Ring and Dunworley as McCarthy extended his lead to 37.4 seconds with Harrison just three 10ths of a second behind in third.
Keith Cronin spun and dropped time on stage six.
Dalton set the pace on the penultimate test to move into second.
