Rally Spain victory lands Nagle his fifth WRC win

PAUL Nagle scored his fifth World Rally Championship career victory with an overdue win in last weekend’s Rally Spain.

Alongside his driver, Tyrone man Kris Meeke, the pair dominated the Salou-based rally from early on Saturday morning to take a deserved win that will not only boost their own confidence but the confidence of their entire Citroen Racing team.

The French squad suffered a very difficult season, and even with the Irish crew winning Mexico in March there has been serious suspension issues with the C3 World Rally Car and other team personnel issues resulting in a very disappointing 2017 for all concerned.

Meeke and Nagle needed this victory more than anything in the world, they needed to prove to the world that they had lost none of the talent that led them to four previous victories at the sport’s highest level.

Citroen needed the boost too, one of the sport’s most successful manufacturers could not stay so low for so long.

“It has been an exceptional weekend,” said Meeke. “It’s not how many times you get knocked down it is how many times you get back up again. The car was exceptional on tarmac and we were able to keep in the mix on Friday on the gravel. It was a very special win.”

Rally Spain began on Friday morning, with the first leg contested entirely on gravel.

Meeke and Nagle quickly established themselves among the leaders. After claiming a stage win on Bot (SS2), they held fifth place at the midday service. In the afternoon, the Briton was fastest again on SS5 and moved up into third position overall, three second behind the leader, Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen.

Day Two was run on asphalt roads, and this were the Irish crew made their mark. Despite a brief shower on El Montmell (SS7), Meeke grabbed the stage win and with it, the overall lead. He never lost to the rally end.

He was then able to minimise the risks taken on the trickiest sections. The rest of the day saw some incredibly close times set by those at the top of the leaderboard. A couple of casualties in the leading group on SS12 meant that Kris headed back to parc ferme with a 13s lead over Ford rivals Sébastien Ogier and 14.5s clear of Ott Tänak.

Sunday’s third and final leg featured six stages, all contested without a service halt. Under cover of darkness, the no.7 C3 WRC driver warned his rivals of what was to come with his first stage win on L’Albiol (SS14). He also won the next two stages to complete a clean sweep on the first loop, extending his lead to 23.9s.

After claiming another two stage wins – meaning he won a total of eight out of nineteen speed tests Meeke also eased off slightly on the Power Stage. He nonetheless set the second fastest time before climbing onto the roof of his C3 WRC to celebrate the win.