Marshall Clarke secured his debut victory in WRC2 when he claimed top spot in Rally Argentina last weekend. Navigating for Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, the pair survived one of the toughest events on the World Rally Championship calendar to win WRC2 by almost three minutes and finish seventh overall.

Despite not taking part in the first two rounds in Monte Carlo and Sweden, fourth place points in Mexico followed by maximum points in Argentina have lifted the pair to second place in the WRC2 championship standings, making the victory even more important.

“It’s a special feeling,” admitted Marshall. “I think this is my third win. I won PWRC in Rally Ireland, WRC 3 in Finland and now WRC 2 in Argentina. Every one is very special, but this one is fantastic because of having the overall points.” In a great event for Northern Ireland motorsport, Dungannon’s Kris Meeke won the event outright and Marshall won WRC2, with both drivers taking advantage of the misfortune of others as the rough Argentinian roads decimated the field. Ukrainian driver Yurii Protasov was the early pace setter in WRC2, taking an early lead and setting the fastest times on four of Friday’s five stages, but he was knocked out of contention when he pulled the rear wheel off his car on stage three, dropping over three minutes. That left Al-Kuwari and his Fermanagh co-driver with a comfortable cushion at the head of the field, and they extended their advantage to three minutes with a clean run through Saturday’s stages. Just two stages remained on the final day, and they navigated them without any problems to clinch victory.

“It was a controlled drive to be honest,” said Marshall. “Obviously it’s great to finish and to win in WRC2. It was just a question of avoiding the rocks and trying to be steady more than showing a great speed, because speed can come; there is no problem with the speed. So it was good to be able to manage and control your speed to get the result. It was what we tried to do this weekend and we succeeded. I enjoyed every moment. This is my first time here and I think the stages are absolutely fantastic. Apart from being rough in some places, but that was the same for everybody. In general I thought every stage was very good.” It is only Marshall’s third event since teaming up with Qatari Al-Kuwari, but they have already developed a good relationship. “He’s a very cool guy,” said Al-Kuwari of his co-driver. “He always tries to cool me down when I get nervous about anything. We really enjoy to rally together and of course he has good experience which helps me in the rally car and the good thing is that I scored my best result ever in the WRC. I’m seventh here. My best was 10th overall, but this is the best result and I’m happy to give him the first time in the top 10.” The pair’s next outing in the World Championship will be in Portugal in May.

Marshall Clarke secured his debut victory in WRC2 when he claimed top spot in Rally Argentina last weekend. Navigating for Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, the pair survived one of the toughest events on the World Rally Championship calendar to win WRC2 by almost three minutes and finish seventh overall.

Despite not taking part in the first two rounds in Monte Carlo and Sweden, fourth place points in Mexico followed by maximum points in Argentina have lifted the pair to second place in the WRC2 championship standings, making the victory even more important.

“It’s a special feeling,” admitted Marshall. “I think this is my third win. I won PWRC in Rally Ireland, WRC 3 in Finland and now WRC 2 in Argentina. Every one is very special, but this one is fantastic because of having the overall points.” In a great event for Northern Ireland motorsport, Dungannon’s Kris Meeke won the event outright and Marshall won WRC2, with both drivers taking advantage of the misfortune of others as the rough Argentinian roads decimated the field. Ukrainian driver Yurii Protasov was the early pace setter in WRC2, taking an early lead and setting the fastest times on four of Friday’s five stages, but he was knocked out of contention when he pulled the rear wheel off his car on stage three, dropping over three minutes. That left Al-Kuwari and his Fermanagh co-driver with a comfortable cushion at the head of the field, and they extended their advantage to three minutes with a clean run through Saturday’s stages. Just two stages remained on the final day, and they navigated them without any problems to clinch victory.

“It was a controlled drive to be honest,” said Marshall. “Obviously it’s great to finish and to win in WRC2. It was just a question of avoiding the rocks and trying to be steady more than showing a great speed, because speed can come; there is no problem with the speed. So it was good to be able to manage and control your speed to get the result. It was what we tried to do this weekend and we succeeded. I enjoyed every moment. This is my first time here and I think the stages are absolutely fantastic. Apart from being rough in some places, but that was the same for everybody. In general I thought every stage was very good.” It is only Marshall’s third event since teaming up with Qatari Al-Kuwari, but they have already developed a good relationship. “He’s a very cool guy,” said Al-Kuwari of his co-driver. “He always tries to cool me down when I get nervous about anything. We really enjoy to rally together and of course he has good experience which helps me in the rally car and the good thing is that I scored my best result ever in the WRC. I’m seventh here. My best was 10th overall, but this is the best result and I’m happy to give him the first time in the top 10.” The pair’s next outing in the World Championship will be in Portugal in May.