MEEKE FIGHTS FOR HIS FUTURE
Kris Meeke faces a battle for his World Rally Championship survival after he was dropped by Citroen last week.
Citroen team principal Pierre Budar telephoned the Northern Irishman to tell him his contract was terminated following Meeke’s sizeable Rally of Portugal crash.
Hyundai team manager Alain Penasse said there would be interest in Meeke. “He’s a guy who can win you two rallies a year – he shouldn’t be on the bench.”
Kris Meeke faces the task of rebuilding his World Rally Championship career after he was sacked by Citroen following his massive Rally of Portugal crash.
The Dungannon driver has limited options available to him following last week’s news, but Hyundai and Toyota have both expressed an interest in Meeke.
The 38-year-old was unavailable for comment when MN contacted him earlier this week, but sources close to him have said he is angry and upset at Citroen’s decision.
The chances of Meeke finding a way back into the WRC this season are remote, but there could be potential when the driver market starts to move at the end of the season.
Hyundai’s Alain Penasse said he thought Meeke still had plenty to offer in the WRC.
“For the moment there’s no contact [with Meeke], but it depends on how the driver market is,” he said. “There’s no doubt that Kris Meeke is a driver who can win WRC events; he is very fast, but very inconsistent – we have seen this throughout his career, which is going up and down. He’s got the speed and he’s not somebody you would have sitting on the bench; he’s like Jari-matti Latvala: a driver who’s not so consistent, but will win you one or two rallies a year.
“We consider all drivers, especially guys who are free and on the market. It’s a bit early now, but we have to see what happens. For sure I can imagine there’s going to be some interest in Citroen [and Meeke’s seat] now. Last year Citroen wasn’t really a danger, but now they have good results and I’m sure drivers will consider them.
“Obviously we have Dani [Sordo] and Hayden [Paddon] on limited programmes and if you put another year of seven rallies against a full programme with Citroen, they would probably be quite interested in that. I don’t think those guys will be happy to share a car again.”
Prior to signing for Citroen at the end of 2015, Meeke had lengthy negotiations and was offered a deal by Toyota. Prior to last week’s news, Toyota team principal Tommi Makinen confirmed he would be interested in talking to Meeke about a potential future deal.
M-sport Ford World Rally Team principal Malcolm Wilson told MN: “It’s sad that we’re losing a potential rally winner out of the championship, there are not so many of those about. It’s also sad that we’re losing a front-running British driver when we’re making such good strides with the sport of rallying in this country.”
Asked if he would be interested in signing Meeke, Wilson said: “I’m very happy with my current driver line-up.”
Citroen team principal Pierre Budar said he was left with no alternative after Meeke’s crash. The news broke on Thursday afternoon following a blunt statement from France stating last year’s Rally Spain winner was out “due to an excessively high number of crashes, some of which were particularly heavy and could have had serious consequences with regard to the crew’s safety”.
Asked to explain the safety aspect of the statement, Budar said: “Because this is a dangerous sport, you have to be able to deal with this danger. When you think about Portugal, you are in a situation when the car is perfect. The pacenotes were supposed to be perfect, it’s the same pacenote used in the same stage in previous years. I think this was at least the third time they go through this stage with the same note with no modification. And you have no pressure because your position in the ranking doesn’t allow you to reach anything. Regarding all of this, you are supposed to be in a position where you are safe on the road. You know the result, meaning it’s not under control. We don’t have anymore the control on the situation. If we lose the control, then we can wonder what will be next.”
Budar accepted there were deficiencies with the C3 WRC last season, but he pointed out that Meeke should have adapted his driving more.
He added: “In that case you have to be able to deal with the car even when it is not perfect. As a driver, you have to consider how to get the car back safely when there is no reason to take all the risks.”
MN’S sources said the aftermath of Meeke’s crash left a strange atmosphere at Citroen.
“It was not normal,” the source said. “When the car came back, it was not nice. We all were looking, but nobody was talking, nobody wanted to say nothing. Kris and Paul were not hurt, that was all we cared for, but the feeling was not like normal. This was a horrible crash, but nobody talked to that. I think some of us knew then, this was not going away.”
The decision to sack Meeke was finally taken on Thursday morning. PSA Group CEO Carlos Tavares and Citroen CEO Linda Jackson were involved in what Budar described as “a company decision”. Meeke was informed on Thursday and Budar is adamant he was told before the communication was issued.
“You can expect we did this properly,” he said. “I had Kris on the phone before the press release was sent. I can understand it’s difficult for him to accept this decision and I can understand he is angry. I must say, in terms of people, I really appreciate Kris and Paul. They are really nice guys. I know we can see some quite difficult things in the press now.”