Meeke/Nagle out of Monte Carlo rally

Irish interest in the Monte Carlo Rally ended earlier today when Kris Meeke (Dungannon) and his Killarney co-driver, Paul Nagle retired from the event on the first stage of the final leg.

Starting out on the Montauban sur l'Ouvèze/Eygalayes stage, Meeke/Nagle occupied fourth place in their Kronos prepared Peugeot UK 207 S2000 car.

In fact they were up into third when Juho Hanninen, who led the rally until late yesterday, then retired after crashing his Skoda Fabia onto his roof in the icy conditions soon after the stage start.

Unfortunately, for Meeke/Nagle, their rally didn’t last much longer as they too upended their Peugeot bringing instant retirement. Neither of the crew were hurt.

Meanwhile, Sébastien Ogier (peugeot S207), who inherited the rally on yesterday's final stage, set the pace on the 30 kilometre test. .

The French driver is now one minute and 50.5 seconds ahead of the Abarth Grande Punto of Toni Gardemeister.

Freddy Loix (Peugeot), who was off the road for a time on the only stage this morning, is third.

The rally will resume later this evening with a number of night time stages near Monaco where the rally finishes just after midnight.