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CAMPEONATO MUNDO DE RALIS - KRIS MEEKE FORA DA CITROEN ?

Sexta, 25 Maio 2018 03:45 | Actualizado em Quinta, 21 Março 2024 23:37

Hi everyone,

Now that a few days have passed since Rally of Portugal, I thought it would be a good to get back in touch with a bit of perspective on our accident - and to look ahead to the next event.

Of course, you’ll have seen the pictures of our C3 WRC after the crash last weekend and the damage didn’t look too pretty. That’s led to a bit of an over-reaction from the wider rallying community, I’d say, because it probably ended up looking more serious than it really was.

It was my mistake, I know, and we went just that little bit too wide and then into the trees. And any accident where a rally car has an impact with trees has the potential to be serious. But in fact, the ‘scale’ of the crash wasn’t really any more than, say, Sebastien Loeb’s off in Corsica.

Citroen Racing builds a strong rally car; I know that and I have total faith in the team. And that trust was proven correct in Portugal because the roll cage did exactly what it was supposed to do - dissipate the energy of the impact, and keep Paul and I safe. The fact that only I had to go to hospital for a check-up after a bit of a sore back and neck - and was then discharged the same evening with a clean bill of health - is testament to that.

It was frustrating not to get a result in Portugal, in fact, because the feeling with the C3 WRC on gravel was excellent - the best I’ve had since we brought the car into competition at the start of 2017, I’d say. And it's worth remembering that in the middle of a titanic battle, we were leading before a couple of punctures.

That’s a result of all the work that we’ve all put in over the past 18 months - development that’s been doubly hard to do in the face of a pretty packed rally calendar. I’m really pleased Citroen Racing has made these steps after the input from myself and the other drivers.

Portugal was that little bit more annoying because it was my fault, too; we’ve actually had a pretty clean run since the middle of last year, and it’s only the past few rallies where things went wrong, for a range of reasons. It’s good to have the support of our Citroen Racing team boss Pierre Budar, who has backed Paul and I all the way, and is settling in well in the role he started earlier this year.

So Portugal’s over now, and we’re already looking forward to Sardinia in a couple of weeks. Our starting position should help us again and we’ve a pre-event test coming up where I know the Citroen Racing team will be able to try a few more ideas on set-up, having learned more on the car last weekend. It’ll be good to put those changes and improvements into practice, and I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to give our season fresh momentum again as we head into summer.

Thanks, as always, for your support. We really do apprecia


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