The big Citroën models in the WRC (1/3): A day with Meeke in the 3 C2017

Myherin North, on a cold and rainy November morning. No need to search on Google Maps, you won't get any results. A few minutes earlier, a sign welcomed me to Wales. The instructions were simple: follow the A44 west from Birmingham, England, towards Ysbyty Cynfyn, then turn left. When ? On the SMS sent to me by the Citroën team, I only see the anarchic outline of streams with barbaric names (Afon Gwy, for example), a field of wind turbines and a line of purple color. A forest path probably.

I start and stop for fear of going the wrong way. In the air, the echo of a racing engine is heard. From an overlooking point of view, I discover, in the distance, a camouflaged car chased by a thick cloud of mud and stones. No doubt, she's the one I came for. The distance desynchronizes the sound from the image, but the result in me is the same: it is not too late to turn around...

A whole myth already surrounds the performances described as demonic in these new WRC 2017, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel any apprehension about hurtling down the slippery Welsh hills to Kris Meeke's right.

Yves Matton, director of Citroën Racing, pushed the boundaries of today's schedule a bit so that my baptism could fit in. « You will be the only journalist in the world to be offered this chance before the start of the season, know this, because we will no longer have the luxury of repeating it, the timing is too tight”, he had confessed to me by telephone a few days earlier. Thank you for this privilege. 

Feeling of claustrophobia 

The presentations have barely been made with Alexis Avril, project manager of the C3 WRC, when I am already asked to prepare. Kris Meeke debriefs with his engineers after a previous round of back and forth and awaits further instructions. I take the opportunity to tour the Citroën, repainted