Disappointment for Kris Meeke and Mark Nagle in Mexico

The Irish pair Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Citroen DS3 WRC) could find little comfort at the end of Rally Guanajuato Mexico where they finished well outside the top ten.

They crashed out of third stage on Friday and then rejoined under Rally2 on the Saturday stages. Running third and sweeping the roads they could make little progress except to concentrate on scoring points for the manufacturers’ championship.

Sebastien Ogier (VW Polo WRC) took his third win of the season and his 27th in the WRC, he also took maximum points on the Power Stage and has extended his lead in the series to 34 points. There was some good news for the Citroen team with Mads Ostberg taking second while fellow Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen (VW Polo WRC) was third. Welsh driver Elfyn Evans (Ford Fiesta WRC) was fourth, his M-Sport team performed heroics to get Ott Tanak’s Fiesta back in the rally. Tanak went off the road and into a lake on Friday.

Luckily the crew escaped before the car was submerged in the water from where it was recovered ten hours later.

In the Ballina based Mayo Rally, Monaghan pair Niall Maguire/Enda Sherry (Subaru WRC) overcame a transmission glitch to claim victory.

At the end of the nine stage event they were a minute and 1.8 seconds ahead of the Subaru WRC of Frank Wray/Kieran McGrath. Former national champion Aaron MacHale, who was co-driven by Paul McGee brought his Group N Mitsubishi home in third – 21.9 seconds further behind.

On the opening stage Maguire, despite the a first gear difficulty led Aaron MacHale (Mitsubishi) by 17 seconds with Armagh’s Marty Toner (Talbot Sunbeam) — seeded at number twenty-two – 1.4 seconds behind in third.

Paddy McVeigh in the ex-Patrick Elliott S12B Subaru WRC and Frank Wray (Subaru WRC) were well down the leaderboard. Close to the stage finish Maguire had closed right up on McVeigh. In slippery conditions Maguire extended his lead on the second stage where McVeigh improved and moved into second. Out on S.S. 3, MacHale set the best time and slotted into second while McVeigh’s rally ended when his Subaru went off the road on a muddy section and hit a stone bank. Maguire, still hampered with the first gear issue – it failed to engage except off the start line — led MacHale by 39.9 seconds with Shane Maguire (Mitsubishi) 5.1 seconds further behind.

With the roads drying up Maguire was able to increase his lead with Wray also making up ground to move into second – albeit 56.5 seconds in arrears. Third placed MacHale was 15.6 seconds in front of his Group N rival Shane Maguire (Mitsubishi) both were untroubled.

Niall Maguire extended his lead on stages seven and eight and was able to ease off a little on the ninth stage to claim the laurels. Remarkably, he used the same tyres through all nine stages. Wray and MacHale completed the top three. Elsewhere, Shane Maguire (Mitsubishi) was fourth and Meath’s Pat Donegan (Escort) was the top two-wheel drive competitor.

In the Malcolm Wilson Rally in the Lake District, Eaun Thorburn (Subaru WRC) beat early leader Paul Bird (Ford Focus WRC) by 46 seconds.