Sean Moriarty

Killarney World Rally Championship co-driver Paul Nagle will retire from the sport later this month.

RETIREMENT: Paul Nagle will retire from the World Rally Championship after the Spanish round alter this month. He is pictured here celebrating his win on on the same event in 2017 Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

RETIREMENT: Paul Nagle will retire from the World Rally Championship after the Spanish round alter this month. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

The Spanish round of the World Championship in Salou later this month will be his last event as a professional co-driver.

The 44-year-old has called time after 18 years in the sport’s top flight.

He has chosen the Rally de Catalunya to bow out as it is a rally he holds very close to his heart.

The Aghadoe man made is WRC debut there in 2004 alongside his friend and neighbour Donie O’Sullivan in a Ford Focus WRC and this set the seed for a career in the sport.

Last weekend’s Rally New Zealand was his 101st event start in the WRC and since his debut 18 years ago he has won five rounds of the series as co-driver to Tyrone’s Kris Meeke.

Their last win together was in Spain in 2017 – another reason Nagle has chosen the October 13 to 16 rally as his last.

Another special Rally RACC Catalunya memory came in 2011 when he and Meeke won their first WRC stage together after topping the time sheets on the event’s PowerStage in front of a live television audience.

More recently Nagle has been co-driver to Waterford’s Craig Breen and the Waterford/Kerry pairing – Ireland’s only full-time crew in the WRC – have finished on the podium no less than six times – the most recent on Rallye Sardinia in June.

Ahead of last weekend’s Rally New Zealand he confided in those closest to him that he would confirm his future plans once he returned to Ireland.

“The time is right,” he said. “I have thought about it long and hard, I just know it's time to go. It has been a huge privilege, the highs outweigh the lows and I have been very lucky to get where I am. I have to give a special mention to Kris Meeke and Craig Breen who shared that journey with me.”

Nagle praised a loyal bunch of family, friends and supporters who have been with him through thick and thin.

His parents Angela and his late father Maurice instilled in him a passion for motorsport.

His wife Cathy is his biggest supporter, and she will take their two sons, Fitz and Leon, to Rally RACC Catalunya next week so they can see Paul in action at a World Championship event for the last time.

He thanked the loyal Kerry followers who have hoisted the tricolour over his rally car many times over the years.

He also thanked his personal sponsor Stephen Ferriter from Mallow Road Motors in Cork who has been by his side for a large portion of his career too.