“WRC needs Meeke back in action”
The Welsh woods are already alive with world rally stars and their cars, the WRC’S coming home next week and another amazing Rallyday on Saturday. We’ll get to those further down this page.
For now, I’ve got to get something off my chest which has been bugging me for the last four months. Kris Meeke. Enough’s enough. The sport needs him back. I’m in the middle of writing the odd word by way of a preview to next week’s festival of forest fever and it’s just not right doing it without including Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle.
Yes, it’s been a great season and its building to a fascinating crescendo, but it would have been even better with Meeke having his say in things.
So Kris, it’s time to get off your bike and back in your car. It’s time to get back to work.
What are the chances of that? Well, the fact that he’s spoken to Toyota team principal Tommi Makinen means there must be some sort of a spark there. We can be pretty sure the four-time champion wasn’t calling to find out how the weather’s been in Andorra since May.
And there’s no doubt Meeke could do a job in a Yaris WRC. The prospect of him and Ott Tanak as team-mates is right up there with Markku Alen and Juha Kankkunen at Lancia in 1987.
One thing has to stop though: this talk about Jari Huttunen taking over from Esapekka Lappi. Really? I mean, really? Huttunen is, no doubt, a talented driver, but he’s absolutely not the right man for the Toyota job. He’s had a factory Hyundai i20 R5 this year, but hasn’t troubled the top step of the WRC2 podium once. His countrymen Eerik Pietarinen and Teemu Suninen have both got more than double the number of WRC2 stage wins this year – and they’ve each started five times less rallies in an R5 car than him.
I’ll revisit some of these topics in the coming weeks, but I couldn’t let this week’s paper pass without saying a huge thank you to a few folk. Firstly, to Tom Davis and Katie Howell for putting together another amazing Rallyday. And secondly, to Miki Biasion, Stuart Turner, Russell Brookes and Martin Holmes for taking me on a journey through history.
It won’t surprise you to learn that I’m a real sucker for stories. I remember the first time I ever met Erik Carlsson, I sat totally transfixed and listened to him talking about the 1960 RAC Rally. It was just the same at Castle Combe last weekend. As the rain bounced off the marquee I was totally engrossed in 1987 and Lancia’s decision not to allow Biasion to challenge for a first world title at the RAC Rally. Same manufacturer and same event, Brookes filled me in on his one-off Delta adventure. Stuart and Martin? They’re both for another column on another day.