KRIS MEEKE’S ROLLERCOASTER YEAR

WHERE: EVERYWHERE WHEN: ALL SEASON

The World Rally Championship’s very own shock and awe moment was delivered at 1719hrs on May 24.

Just days after crashing out of Rally of Portugal, Citroen pulled the pin on a grenade that would rock the service park. Nobody saw it coming.

“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, and given that the risks involved were unjustified by the sporting stakes at play, Citroen Racing WRT has decided to terminate the participation of Kris Meeke and Paul nagle in the 2018 WRC.”

Even re-reading that team statement more than six months on, it still takes some comprehending.

Meeke’s start to the season hadn’t been ideal, but a powerstage win and fourth overall on a tricky Monte allied to a podium in Mexico were by no means the end of the world.

There’s no getting around the fact that the Portugal shunt was a bit of a monster, but Meeke had been leading the event on the first day and things were starting to take shape for the Northern Irishman and Citroen. And then May 24 happened. Meeke and co-driver Nagle went to ground and said nothing. They stayed away from the sport for much of the summer, but offers from Toyota, M-sport and Hyundai were hard to ignore. In the end, Meeke did what he feels he should have done at the end of 2015, when he and Makinen first talked around the table: he fixed his future in Finland.

For all the months after May, it appeared more and more complicated for Meeke to return. Reading much of the copy – on these pages as much as anywhere – must have been like having your obituary presented to you. But I was wrong, we were wrong, everybody but Meeke and Makinen was wrong. October brought the news – exclusively to MN – the Dungannon man would be back. And then some.