Rally Ireland: Eugene Donnelly completed a remarkable turnaround to lead Rally Ireland at the end of day one in Co. Sligo.
Donnelly was trailing Gareth MacHale by some distance entering the closing stages but pulled up an astounding 50 seconds during special stages five and six and now holds a 13 second advantage over the early leader.
Wexford’s Eamon Boland is in third place, with Chris Atkinson and Kenny McKinstry in fourth and fifth respectively.
Speaking afterwards Donnelly said: "Things ran quite well for us but the rain definitely puts a dampener on things. We’ve done well this afternoon to pull the time back."
The Group N competition is led by Chris Atkinson with Mike Curran from Bangor, Co. Down in second and Fermanagh’s Gary Jennings in third.
As organisers push for inclusion in next year's World Rally Championship, Subaru Australia team driver Atkinson heralded the Irish course as unique, saying: "The stages here are totally different to any other stages in the world. We’ve had no problems with the event, it’s all good."
The forty four remaining competitors will take part in tomorrow’s stages starting at 7.30 a.m. in counties Leitrim and Sligo before heading to the finish ramp at Sligo City Hall at 3.00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.