Kris Meeke & Co-Driver Stuart Loudon (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) were crowned the winners of this years Water Rally after an exciting duel with championship rival Armindo Araújo (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) The battle ended on SS6 when Araujo rolled in the stage, handing the initiative to Meeke.
Meeke needed a positive result to close the gap on the championship leader with only one more round remaining after this event, Meeke led the rally from start to finish keeping the pressure on the home hero Araujo.
"I'm sorry about Armindo, these are things that happen, but I have to take my hat off to him, because he was being incredibly fast! So this was not an easy victory. I always had to ride at the maximum. I really enjoyed the stages of the rally. After all, in Portugal there are also good engineers building roads...", said a very smiling Meeke when he praised the layout of the stages.
Meeke holds a 21 point lead over Araujo with the title to be decided at Rallye Vidreiro, the final round of the championship on the 11th/12th October.
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