After his performance in Rally Finland, Citroen Racing have given Kris Meeke a chance to prove that he is good enough for a WRC seat next year. And his off o a good start by going into the Pre-event Qualifying and setting the fastest time. Showing that despite being out of a rally car for 18 months and having only tested once before Rally Finland and competed in Finland before jumping in the deep end for rally Australia, he has the pace to be up with the big boys.

Photo:D.Darrall

In Sunny conditions, Meeke was quickest through the 5.54km stage in
Bucca by 0.336sec from Sebastien Ogier in a Volkswagen Polo R. Thierry
Neuville was third, 0.3sec adrift of Ogier in a Qatar World Rally Team Ford
Fiestas. After the stage Meeke said, “It’s all about road position here, and that was perfect for me! It’s not like Finland because this stage is new for everyone. It’s
a level playing field and I knew that I could deliver given a clean run.”

1. Kris Meeke 2min 39.2
2. Sebastien Ogier + 0.3
3. Thierry Neuville + 0.6
4. Mads Ostberg + 1.2
5. Andreas Mikkelsen + 1.3
6. Mikko Hirvonen + 2.06
7. Evgeny Novikov + 2.08
8. Jari-Matti Latvala + 2.1
9. Khalid Al Qassimi + 6.6
10. Nathan Quinn + 8.2