Meeke leads Ulster rally

Tyrone’s, Kris Meeke and his Killarney co-driver, Paul Nagle in the Pirelli backed Subaru WRC dominated the opening leg of the Armagh based Philip White Tyres Ulster Rally, a counting round of both the Global Group Irish Tarmac Championship and the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championships.

Sat, 01 Sep, 2007 - 00:22

They were fastest on four of this evening’s six stages and lead the Subaru of the Reid Transport Team of Eugene Donnelly/Paul Kiely by 36.9 seconds.

The Pierse backed Subaru of Tim McNulty/Eugene O'Donnell (Subaru) is just over a minute behind in third place.

A rain shower just prior to the start of the first stage made conditions quite slippery and tyre choice

was important.

Meeke had the edge and instantly took a lead of almost six seconds with British Championship contender, Guy Wilks in a Mitsubishi a fine third.

Meeke was fastest on stages two and three but Tim McNulty punched in the best time for stage four, the spectator stage near Armagh city.

Wilks dropped well down the leaderboard due to a combination of throttle problems and a blown turbo, at the penultimate service halt, he was 23rd.

However, he made a fine response on the two night stages, climbing his way back the order and he will start Saturday’s ten stages in twelfth place.

Meeke controlled the proceedings from the front and took no undue risks on the night stages. On the penultimate test, he was some 13 seconds clear of Donnelly, who was quicker than his rival on the last stage - albeit by a fraction of a second.

Tim McNulty, winner of last week’s Galway Summer Rally ended the leg in third.

A fine performance through the night stages saw Gwyndaf Evans (Mitsubishi) move up two places to

fourth.

The top six was rounded off by Mark Higgins (Subaru), who is seeking points in both the Irish and British Championships.

Andrew Nesbitt ended the day in seventh place, his Subaru stalling at the start line on a number of

occasions.

The overnight top ten was completed by Colm Murphy (Subaru), Philip Morrow (Mitsubishi) and David Higgins (Toyota Corolla).

Cork driver and Billy Coleman Award winner, Owen Murphy blew a turbo on S.S. 5 and is 14th. overnight.

1. K. Meeke/P. Nagle (Subaru WRC) 37m. 02.1s.

2. E. Donnelly/P. Kiely (Subaru WRC) 37m. 39.0s.

3. T. McNulty/E. O'Donnell (Subaru WRC) 38m. 39.8s.

4. G. Evans/H. Lewis (Mitsubishi) 39m. 02.2s.