Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle miss out on Portugal podium position

A broken anti-roll bar on the penultimate stage denied the Irish pair of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle a possible podium position on the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, where the Volkswagen Polo WRC team claimed the top three places.

Meeke/Nagle brought their Total Abu Dhabi Citroen DS3 WRC home in fourth.

Jari Matti Latvala had his first win since last October (France) as he held off the challenge of Sebastien Ogier to win by 8.2 seconds, Andreas Mikkelsen was a further 20.4 seconds behind in third. Meeke/Nagle, who began the final leg in third and just 20 seconds off the lead were 48.7 seconds behind the winners.

Starting Saturday’s stages in second place, Meeke/Nagle lost the position to Mikkelsen on the opening stage but regained the spot courtesy of two fine stage wins on SS 9 and SS 10 to move 6.1 seconds behind rally leader Jari-Matti Latvala.

On the repeat loop of stages it was a tense encounter — a 21.1-second timeframe covered the top four at the end of the penultimate leg as Ogiermoved up to second.

At the finish when asked was he disappointed with fourth, Meeke replied: “We tried this weekend, the confidence was good, the car has been incredible, we are making steps all the time. A little glitch in the morning prevented us for fighting for the podium, but it was a really positive weekend.”

French ace Quentin Gilbert (Citroen DS3 R3T) won WRC3 where Monaghan’s Daniel McKenna returned under Rally2 rules to finish tenth in the category.

Meanwhile, former national rally champion Warrenpoint’s Peadar Hurson and his Monaghan co-driver Damien Connolly took a start to finish victory in the Cavan Rally. Fastest on all but one of eight stages (SS 5 was cancelled) Hurson, in his S10 Subaru WRC finished 53 seconds ahead of S11 Subaru WRC of Niall Maguire.

Fermanagh’s Garry Jennings (S12B Subaru WRC) on his first outing in several months was third. Jonathan Pringle (Escort) was the top two-wheel drive competitor.

The Loughgall Country Park Rally in Armagh that was confined to two-wheel drive cars was won by local driver Damien Toner (Ford Escort) — he finished 3.3 seconds ahead of the Escort of Monaghan’s Jim McKenna.

Cork racer Matt Griffin and team mate Duncan Cameron were denied the final spot on the podium in the Pro-Am category in the second round of the Blancpain Endurance Series at Silverstone.

Griffin reeled in several competitors before pitting the Ferrari 458 Italia in second. Cameron entered the final lap in third spot but a five-second post-race penalty demoted them to fourth.

Tyrone’s Seamus Donnelly (Buggy) took a late win in Clare Autocross that doubled as a round of the O’Shea Bus Hire Munster Autocross Championship and the 5 Star Catering National Loose Autocross Championship.

James Cassidy (Semog Buggy) led initially only for Donegal’s Mac Walsh to clip little more than a second off his time on the second run. While Walsh failed to improve on his own time (2m. 09.89s) Donnelly posted the best time of the day (2m. 09.13) to take victory.

In the Premier Autoparts Munster Autotest Championship, Kerry’s Timmy Lynch (TCS) won both rounds of the Skibbereen and District Car Club’s Autotest double-header at Kilbrogan, Bandon.