Meeke/Nagle lead in Brazil

The Irish crew of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle (Peugeot 207 S2000) were in sensational form on today's opening leg of the Rally Internacional de Curitiba in Brazil.

The event is the second round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC).

Overnight, the Tyrone/Kerry combination, who crashed out of a podium place on the Monte Carlo Rally, the first round of the IRC, hold a convincing lead of 48.6 seconds - having set fastest times on all seven tests.

Quickly into the groove, Meeke was 9.2 seconds clear of his closest rival, Anton Alen (Fiat Abarth), the son of Markku Alen, who won this event several years ago.

Alen lost second spot when he punctured a rear tyre on the third stage. He lost over six minutes on the following test with suspension related issues.

Meanwhile, Meeke continued unabated and extended his advantage to some 22 seconds over Nicolas Vouilloz (Peugeot 207 S2000).

Vouilloz lost second spot to Giandomencio Basso (Abarth) on the day's closing tests.

Local Brazilian, Alejandro Cancio (Mitsubishi) holds fourth.

Meeke maintained his run of fastest times but is was a close affair through the day's final test where he was just 0.3 of a second ahead of Anton Alen's rejuvenated Fiat Abarth.

The rally continues tomorrow with six more stages.

1. K. Meeke/P. Nagle (Peugeot) 50m. 47.0s.

2. G. Basso/M. Dotta (Abarth) 51m. 35.6s.

3. N. Vouilloz/N. Klinger (Peugeot) 51m. 35.9s.

4. A. Cancio/S. Garcia (Mitsubishi) 51m. 50.6s.

5. F. Loix/I. Smets (Peugeot) 52m. 09.5s.

6. V. Galeano/T. D. Fabiano (Mitsubishi) 53m. 18.6s.