Eurosport - Sat, 21 Nov 18:27:00 2009
IRC champion Kris Meeke won the inaugural RACMSA Rally of Scotland.
Meeke fought a titanic battle with Guy Wilks with the result in the balance before the abandonment of the final stage following an accident involving Scottish champion David Bogie.
Meeke led by 21.2 seconds going into the final day but Wilks took three wins on the opening five stages on Saturday to close the gap by half a second going into the final 33km stage at Loch Ard.
Bogie's crash meant Wilks had to settle for second - Skoda UK's best international rally result.
It was a fifth victory of the season for 30-year-old Peugeot UK star Meeke following on from triumphs in Brazil, the Azores, Ypres and Sanremo.
Meeke, from Dungannon in Northern Ireland, said: "It's awesome, absolutely awesome. I'm going to take my time to savour it because I don't think we'll ever have another year like this; five victories and two second places in seven IRC rallies.
"I have to thank the Kronos team and Peugeot for giving me this opportunity. I'd also like to dedicate this victory to Colin McRae. We've worked long and hard for this and it's an emotional victory."
Third place went to Alister McRae at the wheel of his Proton Satria Neo S2000 after he made a 24 hour dash from the Rally China to make the start of Scotland's first international event for 14 years.
Belfast's Jonathan Greer held out to take fourth place despite withering pressure from Bogie while Jock Armstrong took sixth place in his Subaru.
Seventh place was taken by one of the real discoveries of the 2009 IRC, Estonian youngster Kaspar Koitla.
RACMSA Rally of Scotland Result:
1 Kris Meeke (GB) Paul Nagle (IRL) Peugeot 207 S2000 1hr 51m 34.1s
2 Guy Wilks (GB) Phil Pugh (GB) Skoda Fabia S2000 +20.7s
3 Alister McRae (GB) Bill Hayes (AUS) Proton Satria Neo - +3m 8.0s
4 Jonathan Greer (GB) Dai Roberts (GB) Ralliart Evo IX - +5m 42.5s
5 David Bogie (GB) Kevin Rae (GB) Ralliart Evo IX - +6m 24.2s
6 Jock Armstrong (GB) Kirsty Riddick (GB) Subaru Impreza - +8m 21.1s
7 Kaspar Koitla (EST) Andres Ots (EST) Honda Civic Type R - +14m 17.5s
8 Eamonn Boland (IRL) Mick Morrissey (IRL) Ralliart Evo IX - +15m 9.5s
IRC Drivers' Points
1 Kris Meeke (GB) 66
2 Jan Kopecky (CZ) 49
3 Freddy Loix (B) 37
4 Nicolas Vouilloz (F) 31
5 Giandomenico Basso (I) 28
6 Juho Hanninen (FIN) 21
7 Guy Wilks (GB) 13
IRC Manufacturers' Points
1 Peugeot 112
2 Skoda 80
3 Ralliart 50
4 Abarth 43
5 Proton 11
6 Honda 3
IRC 2WD Cup Drivers' Points
1 Denis Millet (F) 49
2 Manuel Villa (I) 36
3 Kaspar Koitla (EST) 20
4 Laszlo Vizin (H) 17
IRC 2WD Cup Manufacturers' Points
1 Peugeot 80
2 Honda 71
3 Abarth 55
4 Volkswagen 16
Comment 1 - 5 of 5
I wouldnt give Wilks a ride in a wheelbarrow !!! I really wish Alister would have beat him !! theres confidance and arrogance Wilks has the latter
Well done to Kris & Paul, especially considering this time last year there were no contracts for them to drive in IRC
Kaspar Koitla - Andres Ots were actually 6th overall, cause David Bogie retired on stage 13!!!
Great win from Kris and Paul
Shame about SS13 though
Great to hear that David & kevin are ok though
well done Kris, great drive again, also good job by Guy too, both deserve a wrc ride for sure.
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