Irish pair target Rally GB following their brilliant win in Spain
KRIS Meeke and Paul Nagle tackle the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship this weekend – Wales Rally GB - but have warned fans not to sets expectations to high.
Wales Rally GB, in the absence of an Irish round of the World Rally Championship, is considered the home event for the Citroen Racing pair and all other Iris crews on the event.
Their 2017 season has been nothing short of a roller coaster, wins in Mexico and Spain, were separated by series of accidents and poor results, including been dropped by team bosses for Rally Poland.
The Spanish win, earlier this month, has given both Meek and Nagle and the entire team a new wave of confidence and many are pointing towards a victory in the north Wales forests over the weekend.
If they were to succeed it would mark their sixth world rally championship victory but the first time to put back-toback wins together, a task seen as essential to any world title aspirations.
In the past the have finished third (2014) and second (2015) on the British round of the world series.
Meeke said: “To win in Finland, Argentina, Portugal, Mexico and now on the asphalt in Spain are all special but, for sure, winning Rally GB is a box I’d dearly love to tick. But you learn over the years not to go to events with huge expectations because everything needs to come together over the weekend – most importantly the feeling in the car, and we don’t know yet whether that’s going to be there in Wales. Let’s see how we get on. Hopefully, we can set off on the right foot and then see how we go from there. But, yes, I’d dearly love to win the rally but, whether that’s this year or not, I’ve no idea.
Wales Rally GB is obviously a very special event for me. I competed in my very first rally here, almost twenty years ago! So it’s the event that I know the best and the surface that comes most naturally to me. Our win in Spain was a great morale boost for the whole team. Having said that, it doesn’t guarantee anything for this event. We’ll see what sort of performance level we have in the Welsh forests. Obviously, a lot will depend on the weather. Running ninth on the road on Friday will be a handicap if it rains. In any case, I’m very motivated and will be doing everything I can to secure another good result for Citroën.”
Locally, The Fastnet Rally takes place over the bank holiday weekend in Bantry with Faha co-driver Shane Buckley the top Kerry competitor. He is on pacenote duty for local driver Daniel Cronin in a Ford Fiesta R5 and the pair arrive at Cronin’s home event in fine form after winning the Clare Stages last month and scoring a top six finish on the recent Cork “20” International Rally. They will keeping one on eye on the future as they won last year’s Kerry Winter Rally and hope to be back to defend the title on November 12.
Uncle and nephew team Ed Murphy and John McCarthy will start inside the top ten seeds in their Ford Escort.
Former Circuit of Kerry winners Thomas Fitzmaurice and Fionn Foley made rare competitive outing over the weekend when they tackled the Rally of Legends in the principality of San Marino in the centre of Italy. The invitation only event celebrated the late Colin McRae’s achievements in the sport and the local crew demonstrated their ex-world championship Subaru Imoreza, supported by several members of Kerry Motor Club. They used their time in Italy to record video of footage of world stars like Meeke, Alistair McRae (brother of Colin) and former ladies world champion Louse Aitken-Walker to promote the rally with the videos going viral on social media platforms over the weekend.
Katie Quinn finished second in the Junior section of the Garda Rally in Baltinglass over the weekend, an impressive debut in her Honda Civic and perfect preparation for the Kerry Winter Rally next month.