Meeke takes victory

It is finally Kris Meeke who wins this Saturday the Rally of Curitiba, the second event on the IRC calendar. Exemplary throughout these two days of racing, the Briton chose the right strategy by attacking hard on the first day and managing his lead during the second.

Literally crushing the competition, Meeke was imperial all day Friday, with seven scratch times obtained on seven stages contested. He will intelligently slow down on Saturday and keep his opponents at a good distance; his opening position, which forced him to sweep the track all day, will ultimately not have harmed him. Upon his arrival at the Curitiba service park, the Kronos team driver did not hide his satisfaction.

“It’s one of the best rallies I’ve ever done. I had a good feeling with the car and from start to finish it was magical. The stages are incredible, pleasant to ride. I'm so happy. », declared the winner of the first Brazilian rally in the history of the IRC.

Kris Meeke will therefore have managed to resist the attacks of his pursuers, in particular those of his teammate Nicolas Vouilloz and Giandomenico Basso on his Abarth Grande Punto. Both drivers gave everything on Saturday to try to catch up with the leader, but in the end, only the Frenchman managed to regain some time. He failed at 26??2 behind Meeke, while Basso found himself relegated to 47??9 in the end.

Anton Alen will ultimately be the only one of the five official drivers present not to finish the event at the forefront, since the son of the illustrious Finn Markku Alen, winner here in 1979, will ultimately only be classified in 12th position in the general. Alen first lost all chance of victory when he hit a stone in SS 3, damaging his left rear tire as well as his suspension, then going off the road in SS 9 on Saturday definitively put an end to his desires. offensive.

The third Kronos driver, Freddy Loix, suffered from his opening position on the first day. The Belgian did everything to limit the damage, but on the evening of stage 1 he was already 1?22??5 behind. It's difficult for him to hope for better than fourth place in the end, which will still earn him 5 additional points, enough to take the lead in the Drivers' standings with 13 points on the clock. Behind, Basso and Vouilloz remain in ambush with 10 and 8 points respectively.

If the event is confirmed, the next round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge will take place in Kenya on April 3 and 4, otherwise we will have to wait until early May and the Azores Rally.