Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle claim rally glory in Finland

Irish rallying enjoyed one of its greatest days yesterday as Dungannon’s Kris Meeke and his Killarney co-driver Paul Nagle in the Abu Dhabi Total WRT-run Citroen DS3 WRC Paul Nagle won Rally Finland, round eight of the World Rally Championship.

There was also a first ever WRC podium finish and fastest stage time for Waterford’s Craig Breen (Citroen Ds3 WRC), who was third. Meeke is only the sixth non-Nordic winner in the 65-year history of the event as he denied Jari Matti Latvala (VW Polo WRC) a hat-trick of wins. The Finnish driver was 29.1 seconds behind in second spot.

In Saturday’s leg, Meeke was in superb form. Aware of the challenge of Latvala, his response was perfect. On Ouninpohja (33Kms), one of the most famous stages in world rallying, he beat Latvala by 13.4 seconds to move over half a minute clear at the front.