Under the hood

The WRC silly season hit full swing this week with Northern Irishman Kris Meeke set to return to the World Rally Championship next season after reportedly signing a deal with Toyota. Meeke was dumped by Citroen earlier this year but is likely to join Ott Tanak and Jari-Matti Latvala at Toyota next year, replacing Esapekka Lappi, who is tipped to be off to Citroen. Craig Breen is likely to leave Citroen for M-Sport Ford while off-contract Kiwi Hayden Paddon has been linked to Malcolm Wilson’s squad as well. Paddon, who is back in New Zealand for this weekend’s Raglan Rally of the Coast, said he had nothing to announce and that he hadn’t spoken to M-Sport.