Kris Meeke finally breaks through to win in the WRC
Kris Meeke scored his maiden World Rally Championship victory at Rally Argentina to become the first British driver to win a WRC event since 2002.
The Northern Irishman headed Citroën team-mate Mads Østberg by 18.1sec as the French manufacturer claimed its first 1-2 finish for almost three years. Elfyn Evans completed a great day for Britain by taking his first WRC podium.
The late Colin McRae was the last British winner at Kenya’s Safari Rally and mentored 35-year-old Meeke through the early part of his career.
“The one guy who did most for me isn’t here to see this. This is for Colin. He helped my career out at the very beginning. He supported me financially through to the world championship. Without his support I wouldn’t be here,” said an emotional Meeke.
He led the four-day gravel rally for all but a handful of kilometres in his DS 3, ending a torrid start to the season in which he crashed in the first three rounds.
He led the first leg by more than a minute and measured his pace over incredibly rocky conditions which sidelined many frontrunners to finally reach the top step of the podium on his 58th start.
Østberg fought a fever and an early engine problem to secure his second consecutive runners-up spot. He climbed to second in the championship standings behind Sébastien Ogier, who finished a lowly 17th after fuel injection issues stopped him on the opening stage of the event.
Evans survived final stage suspension problems in his Ford Fiesta RS to finish 3min 27.4sec behind Meeke, conceding a minute as he nursed the car through the test. It was a fitting farewell for the current Fiesta RS, which will be replaced by a new evolution at the next round.
Czech driver Martin Prokop matched a career-best fourth in another Fiesta RS while Dani Sordo recovered from the electrical problem which stopped him at the end of Leg 2 to overhaul Khalid Al Qassimi for sixth in the final stage.
There were just two stages in today’s final leg, but the famous roads of El Condor provided a sting in the tail to a gruelling weekend.
Jari-Matti Latvala retired from third with fuel supply problems in his Volkswagen Polo R during the first pass of the test. Team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen and fourth-placed Thierry Neuville both crashed out after hitting the same rock in the repeat run.
“Overall it’s been a difficult event but nothing more than we expected,”said Paddon.
“Some things just unfortunately didn’t work out. I think it was important for us to re-join today just to get some confidence and to get some momentum for the next rallies. There were some nice stages this weekend, particularly SS3 on Friday, really nice and smooth. As an event, it’s a nice challenge and different from the others we do, and that’s what the World Rally Championship is all about.”
RESULTS : RALLY ARGENTINA
Pos
Driver
Team
Car
Gap
1
Kris Meeke
Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT
Citroen
3h41m44.9s
2
Mads Ostberg
Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT
Citroen
18.1s
3
Elfyn Evans
M-Sport World Rally Team
Ford
3m27.4s
4
Martin Prokop
Jipocar Czech National Team
Ford
6m26.1s
5
Daniel Sordo
Hyundai Motorsport
Hyundai
10m46.7s
6
Khalid Al-Qassimi
Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT
Citroen
11m19.9s
7
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari
Youth & Sports Qatar Rally Team
Ford
16m02.6s
8
Diego Dominguez
Ford
18m48.2s
9
Gustavo Saba
Saba Competicion
Skoda
21m20.6s
10
Federico Villagra
Ford
25m19.6s
Driver’s Standings:
Pos
Driver
Total
1.
Sébastien Ogier
84
2.
Mads Østberg
51
3.
Andreas Mikkelsen
47
4.
Elfyn Evans
41
5.
Kris Meeke
35
6.
Thierry Neuville
35
7.
Dani Sordo
30
8.
Martin Prokop
26
9.
Jari-Matti Latvala
19
10.
Ott Tanak
13
11.
Hayden Paddon
10
12.
Khalid Al Qassimi
8
13.
Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari
6
14.
Nasser Al-Attiyah
6
15.
Sébastien Loeb
6
16.
Dominguez Stroessner Diego
4
17.
Yuriy Protasov
2
18.
Nicolas Fuchs
2
19.
Gustavo Saba
2
20.
Jari Ketomaa
1
Team’s Standings:
Pos
Teams
Total
1.
Volkswagen Motorsport
103
2.
Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT
85
3.
Hyundai Shell World Rally Team
85
4.
M-Sport World Rally Team
71
5.
Jipocar Czech National Team
32
6.
Volkswagen Motorsport II
15
7.
Hyundai Motorsport N
9
8.
F.W.R.T.
3
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