Kris Meeke: “My most successful rally. »

Fighting with the Volkswagen Polo R during the first stage of the Rally of Australia last weekend thanks to his favorable position on the road, Kris Meeke nevertheless admitted not wanting to risk everything against Sébastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala. “We are fighting against crews who are playing in the World Championship. So I have to run my own race. » explains the Citroën driver after SS6. A race ruined in SS10 by a penalty for cutting the road which dropped him to fifth behind the Ford Fiesta RS of Finn Mikko Hirvonen. Meeke nevertheless took advantage of the last day to move back to fourth place and remained satisfied with his performances.

“It?s a bit of a strange feeling? I think this is my most successful rally since the start of the year even if we only finished fourth with this penalty. Seb and Jari-Matti are still out of reach at the moment. In Finland, Germany and, this week, Australia, we played at the forefront. I feel stronger and stronger for my first full season in WRC. We will have to continue like this during the Rallye de France. » indicates the former IRC champion in 2009. Meeke and his teammate Paul Nagle will return to their Citroën DS3 seats from October 3 for the Rallye de France-Alsace.

Find the report and analysis of the Australian Rally, produced by our special correspondent on site, in issue 1978 of AUTOhebdo, already available in digital version, and on newsstands from Wednesday.