Remembering Paul Phelan: The day he helped me “beat” Sébastien Loeb

Remembering Paul Phelan: The day he helped me “beat” Sébastien Loeb

A PERSONAL TRIBUTE BY Sean Moriarty

The Irish motorsport community is mourning the loss of Paul Phelan, who passed away on Saturday.

 A world-class navigator, 1975 Circuit of Ireland winner alongside Billy Coleman, and 19-time National Navigation Champion, Paul’s contributions to the sport spanned over sixty years.

He was widely respected for his meticulous eye for details and numbers but he will also be remembered for his sharp, mischievous sense of humour.

One personal memory from 2007 perfectly captures the wit of the man who served for long stints in the Motorsport Ireland office, the Trials Drivers Club, and as a dedicated press officer.

It happened during the inaugural Rally Ireland in 2007, when the World Rally Championship arrived in Sligo.

I was competing with Manchester-based Tyrone man Fin McCaul in a diesel BMW. This was well before the era of modern smartphones and instant, internet-based live results.

While the tracking behind the scenes was advanced for its time, official results were still printed on paper and distributed manually.

Upon entering a regroup or a service time control, crews were handed official, FIA-headed documentation showing the standings.

With dozens of cars to process under intense pressure, errors were inevitable.

During the Friday leg of the event, a glaring mistake came off the printer machine in the Sligo press office, right before the sheets were to be distributed to the world’s media and WRC factory teams.

The timecard entries had been mixed up, and a WRC timing error on SS12 briefly recorded our diesel BMW as the fastest car on the stage.

For a few seconds, the official FIA-headed document, signed by the stewards and clerks, showed McCaul and myself as the fastest car in the entire World Rally Championship event ahead of Sébastien Loeb and the entire WRC field.

The press office team noticed the error within seconds and a corrected batch was quickly printed to be handed out to the crews.

However, Paul’s legendary sense of mischief kicked in. Instead of throwing the error sheets straight into the shredder, he quietly salvaged one of the original, signed copies and slipped it to me.

“Here,” he smiled. “For future bragging rights.”

On paper, signed by the top sanctioning management of the event, we were  fastest on SS12.

In reality, we were much closer to the back of the field, but the official paperwork didn’t lie. Thanks to Paul’s quick thinking and appreciation for a good joke, we briefly became the fastest crew on a WRC event.

I still have that time sheet safely tucked away in my personal archives. It remains a prized possession and a reminder of Paul’s warmth, his sharp mathematical mind, and his ability to find fun in the high-stakes environment of a world championship event.

He was a true gentleman, a brilliant competitor, and a friend to many. He will be deeply missed across the Irish rally community. May he rest in peace

---

---