It was a good start for Gareth MacHale, the number one seed in this Topaz Donegal International Rally, which acts as round four of the Citroen Irish Tarmac Rally Championship.
At the end of day one of the Letterkenny based event, the Dubliner, who is the defending champion in Donegal, has a 58.4 second advantage over Craig Breen (Ford Fiesta S2000), with the Subaru WRC of Tim McNulty a further 6.4 seconds behind in third.
In sunny conditions, MacHale made the perfect start - eking out a 1.4 second lead over Tim McNulty, a margin that was doubled by the conclusion of the second stage.
But as McNulty prepared to leave the service halt, his Subaru just wouldn't start. His mechanics traced the problem to a gearbox sensor, but the four minutes lost, brought a one-minute road penalty.
To add to his woe, McNulty then spun on the third stage and was classified seventh. It was also a troubled time for Keith Cronin in his JRM prepared Mitsubishi Evo 10, third overall after the opening test, but with his car constantly cutting out, turbo troubles and road penalties, he's dropped out of contention.
MacHale, fastest on all four stages around Carndonagh, was able to adopt a cautious approach on the double run through the streets of Buncrana where he and McNulty both recorded the fastest times.
Donegal International Rally - Positions after Day 1
1 G MacHale/B Murphy (Ford Focus WRC) 29m. 59.8s.
2 C Breen/G Roberts (Ford Fiesta S2000) 30m. 58.2s.
3 T McNulty/P Kiely (Subaru WRC) 31m. 04.6s.
4 D O'Riordan/T McDaid (Subaru WRC) 31m. 08.0s.
5 S Leonard/J McCafferty (Subaru WRC) 31m. 18.9s.
6 A MacHale/E O'Donnell (Ford Focus WRC) 31m. 28.4s.
7 A Fisher/R Kennedy (Mitsubishi Evo9) 31m. 38.5s.
8 PJ McDermott/P Goodman (Subaru WRC) 31m. 50.5s.
9 D Tourish/D McAleney (Mitsubishi Evo9) 31m. 56.7s.
10 J Greer/D Roberts (Mitsubishi Evo9) 32m. 21.9
