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A finish for Meeke and Nagle
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TWELVE months on from an epic win on Rally Finland, the fastest rally on the calendar, Meeke and Nagle brought their under-performing Citroen C3 home in eighth place.
Meeke is one of the fastest drivers on the WRC at present. To take advantage of his speed and talent, all the stars need to be lined up for ultimate success. For Meeke that was this year. A full works drive with a car he helped develop, up against competitors in all new machinery. The stage was set. However halfway through the season with only one victory and a string of mistakes and mechanical issues he finds himself fighting for his seat in the Citroen WRC team.
This led to an eighth place result last weekend to what we can only suspect as driving to orders. Meeke needs to drive flat out which has it risks but also its rewards. Unfortunately for Citroen the risk quota is full so there is nothing to trade for reward which will leave Meeke towing the line for the remainder of the season.
On the Sharp end, novice Finnish driver Esapekka Lappi, driving for only the fourth time at the WRC’s top level, won last weekend’s event in a Toyota Yaris. Lappi, who became the sixth different driver to win in nine rounds, fought with experienced team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala before retired from the lead on Saturday with electrical issues.
In contrast to Meek’s weekend, his teammate, the ever-consistent Craig Breen, was the leading Citroën driver in fifth. The championship leader going into the event, Sebastian Ogier crashed out leaving Thierry Neuville take the lead in the championship.