Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle got their Intercontinental Rally Challenge title defence back on track with a comfortable victory in the Rally Internacional de Curitiba, Brazil.
Having crashed out in Monte Carlo last time around, the pair brought their Peugeot 207 S2000 home ahead of the Skoda Fabias of Guy Wilks and Juho Hänninen, in round two of this year’s championship.
The winning margin was 46.7s, and the win – Meeke’s second successive victory in Brazil – makes him the leading IRC rally winner of all time, and puts him third in the current Drivers’ Championship.
'We learned to stay relaxed and control the lead. I know what it takes to win again' – Kris Meeke
After blasting the winning car around the Curitiba Autodrome circuit to kick-start the celebrations, Meeke revealed that the team’s strategy had been to go out hard from the start.
"We knew we had very tough opposition – three very quick Skodas, all with top drivers," the 30-year-old from Dungannon, Northern Ireland said.
"We had the advantage that we had been here last year, and we knew just how fast these stages could be - they are some of the fastest in the world. So we pushed very hard on stage one, won the stage, and led the rally for the rest of the event."
Peugeot Press
Peugeot UK’s team principal, Marc Van Dalen, was delighted that they were able to put the disappointments of the first round firmly behind them: "When Kris and Paul went off and out on the Monte Carlo Rally, I said immediately we were a team - we win together, we lose together. I vowed we would win in Brazil. We have!”
Despite leading the race from start to finish, Meeke and Nagle were pushed all the way by the difficult conditions in south-east Brazil.
“It wasn’t easy with the roads flooded in some places and bone dry in others and three very good drivers chasing us,” he said.
“But we've learned to stay relaxed and control the lead. I know what it takes to win again.”
Co-driver Nagle was full of praise for his team-mate, who he said was back to his best: “I had not seen Kris drive like this since we won our titles at Sanremo last year. He was in a completely different class to the rest, and the team was fantastic.”
There’s no rest for Meeke and Nagle as the action moves to Carlos Paz, Argentina for round three in ten days’ time.
To keep up with all the action, tune in to Eurosport and you can follow live timing with the IRC, listen to rally radio with Peugeot, Twitter with the team and get Kris's views.
Peugeot Press
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