Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle claim rally glory in Finland
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.
Breen also enjoyed a good morning, from fifth he was into third — benefiting from a mistake by Andreas Mikkelsen (VW Polo WRC) as he kept Thierry Neuville (Hyundai i20) and Ott Tanak (Fiesta WRC) at bay. Meeke, fastest again on the afternoon run through Ouninpohja, held an overnight lead of 41 seconds as Breen impressed to hold off Estonian Tanak for third.
Yesterday, as Meeke/Nagle kept their focus to secure victory, Tanak slid out and Breen fended off Neuville to conclude a remarkable weekend.
At the finish Meeke said: “A little bit crazy to be honest, this is the home of rallying. Ouninpohja is the Holy Grail of rally stages, to win it in the way we did, from the team to Paul in the car, what can I say, it’s just been exceptional.”
He added: “We have always known that the DS3 is still very strong, I was wary coming up to the rally as I was always only hanging onto the coat-tails of Jari and Seb (Ogier) and I didn’t suspect it would be different this year. Something just clicked from the first corner of this rally.”
Meanwhile, a tearful Breen was overcome with emotion, declaring: “I can’t believe it, it’s an emotional place to be in. I know I’m coming across all wrong now but it’s been such a road to get here.
“I’m missing my main man (the late Gareth Roberts) and I know he’s looking down at this. I’m so, so happy, thanks everybody.”
Meanwhile, Antrim’s Derek McGarrity and his Tralee co-driver Diarmuid Falvey took their Ford Fiesta WRC to a start to finish victory in the Tyrone Rally on Saturday. After the 12 stages, they emerged with a 21.8-second winning margin over the Fiesta R5 of Louth’s Brendan Cumiskey/Ronan O’Kane.
Midway through the rally, McGarrity was concerned about the engine of his Fiesta. However, a change of spark plugs and a replacement coil pack sorted the problem and he went on the claim victory and edge closer to a seventh Northern Ireland Rally Championship title. Cumiskey took second and Emma McKinstry (S14 Subaru WRC) was third.
In the Total 24 Hours of Spa, round four of the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Championship at Spa Francorchamps, Cork’s Matt Griffin and his teammates Duncan Cameron, Aaron Scott and Riccardo Ragazzi were robbed of a podium finish in the Pro-Am category by an accident.
Griffin showed a fine turn of speed during his stints behind the wheel of the AF Corse-entered Ferrari 488 GT3 and led the category during the night. By the time he was back at the wheel they had slipped several places but again he hauled the car into a podium spot and held second before he handed over to Cameron.
Unfortunately, the British driver spun and clattered the rear of the Ferrari, and lost another lap before the car could be repaired, they finished 18th in category.
The West Cork Motorcycle Hillclimb at Dunderrow was won by Killeagh’s Michael Brown (Suzuki GSXR), who posted the best time on the fifth and final run.
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