Disappointing weekend for top Irish hopes

The top Irish competitors had disappointing outings over the weekend both in the World Rally Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. 

Points for the Citroen team was really all that was on offer for the Irish crew of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle, who rejoined the Rally Italia Sardegna under the Rally2 rule.

They collected two points for the team that remain a distant second behind the VW Polo outfit.

The only other consolation was the experience of the terrain - Meeke’s best performance was second fastest on the penultimate stage.

The rally was won by reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier (VW Polo WRC), who took the lead on S.S. 17 and went on to finish over three minutes ahead of the Hyundai i20 of Hayden Paddon with Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20) a minute and 17.1 seconds further adrift in third.

After the event Meeke said: “After a disastrous start to the race, rejoining under Rally2 rules yesterday (Saturday) was an interesting and rewarding experience.

My times were pretty good, especially in the afternoon. Today was just about getting around and collecting some points for the team in the Manufacturers’ World Championship.

We did just that and now I’ll switch my attention to Rally Poland. We know about the potential of the car and we’ve got a chance of getting a good result provided we work hard.”

Paddon, the first New Zealander to lead a round of the WRC outside of his own country, led until S.S. 16 on Saturday when he spun and later hit a rock that damaged the transmission system.

Ogier took over and ran out an easy winner - he was the only top driver to come out unscathed over the rocky roads that inflicted damage to all his rivals. The Frenchman collected maximum points by winning the Power Stage.

Paddon had a career-best second place despite nursing the car to the finish. Meeke’s team-mate Mads Ostberg was in line for third place until he put his Citroen off the road on yesterday’s opening stage, damaging the rear suspension and brakes. Neuville took the final spot on the podium.

Khalid Al-Qassimi (Citroen DS3 WRC) and his Antrim co-driver Chris Patterson were tenth. Elsewhere, Mallow’s David Moynihan and his British driver Harry Hunt (Skoda Fabia S2000) were nineteenth - three places ahead of the Subaru of Wexford’s Eamonn Boland and his Waterford co-driver Mick Morrissey.

Meanwhile, there was also disappointment for Cork’s Matt Griffin and his team-mates when they were forced to retire just before the 18th hour of the 24 Hours Le Mans when their AF Corse Ferrari 458 Italia ran out of fuel. The team are investigating the reason.

Griffin stormed through the GTE Am pack in his opening double stint and pitted in second position in the category.

Unfortunately, not long after Duncan Cameron took to the wheel a puncture cost them time and valuable places. Alex Mortimer was driving when the car stopped.

The Irish-owned Murphy Prototypes team were fifth in the LMP 2 category. The race was won by Porsche team of Nico Hulkenburg, Earl Bamber and Nick Tandy.