Kris Meeke - Rally GB

Posted: November 10, 2003 10:44 PM

Kris opened his account with two fastest stages times to take an early lead, which he retained for the most of the day until stage four, when he damaged a suspension strut. With another stage still left before service, Carlsson took the lead and Kris done well to restrict his lead to only eight seconds. Mirco Baldacci finished the day in third position, only four seconds adrift of the McRae Scholar.

Battle resumed on Day Two as Meeke and Carlsson began to pull away from the rest of the field. The pair traded stage times all day, but just as Meeke got within five seconds of the Swede, the Opel Corsa encountered an electrical problem, which restricted the car to only 70% throttle for the longest stage of the rally. Kris dropped twenty seconds to Daniel Carlsson. The Team Palmer driver ended the day second in JWRC and 17th overall in the main World Championship event.

With only three stages on the final day, there was only a slim chance of catching Carlsson, but the Ulsterman trimmed six seconds off his lead. With a same stage repeated again, Kris wanted to keep the pressure on, but as he swerved to avoid a rock in the middle of the road, he rolled out of the rally.

It was a disappointing end to what could be described as Kris' home event. "The accident was fairly simple. I was committed to the line for the corner and swerved to avoid a rock torn out from a previous competitor, but the car got unto the loose gravel and slid off the road. Maybe I should have hit the rock and suffered the consequences, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I am disappointed for the Team, as car ran almost faultlessly all weekend, apart from a freak electrical problem." said Kris.

"Taking some positives from the event, I have raised my game this weekend. It's only when you are locked in a battle that you can really push to the limit. There was no margin for error, and the accident proved that. Fair credit to Daniel, it was an awesome battle, and wish him all the best as he moves on to a works drive for the Peugeot WRC Team.

Thanks also to McRae Motorpsort, Team Palmer, SKE Solutions www.skesolutions.com and Micro-Cam www.micro-cam.com for their continued support."

• For more information and photographs www.krismeeke.com

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07/10/03
Kris Meeke - Rally Italy - Sanremo "2nd would have been nice"

A simple mistake cost Kris Meeke his first podium finish in the Junior World Championship when he crashed out of second place on the Sanremo Rally.

Team Palmer has found renewed impetus with the arrival of Charlie Nichol and Peter Garvin from the Suzuki Junior Team. A combination of small setup changes and some new development parts had given the team hope of a good showing on the tight, twisting roads of Sanremo.

Kris had been in sparkling form on the first leg of the rally, setting 2nd fastest times in the highly competitive category and ended the day in 3rd place, within striking distance of championship contender Daniel Carlsson, while local ace Micro Baldacci led in a S1600 Fiat Punto.

While there was only a 25 seconds gap to second place at the start of Leg 2, the battle for position did not materialise. Daniel Carlsson's challenge came to a sudden end when he crashed on the opening stage of the day, and Kris was left with a comfortable three minute cushion to 3rd place.

A good result evaporated on the first stage out on Sunday morning when Kris missed a braking point, clipped the tail of his Opel Corsa against a rock face, spinning the car into an armco barrier.

"This is one of the biggest disappointments of my career to date. I have to hold my hands up and admit that I made a mistake. We were under no pressure, but I simply missed a braking point and carried too much speed into the corner.", said Kris.

"Despite that, we have learnt a lot on this rally, and realised that there is quite a bit more speed to be gained both from my pacenotes, and adapting my driving technique"

Despite Kris' lack of sealed surface experience, Team owner Rob Palmer has been encourage by the progress. "Kris has shown great potential, both in himself and the Opel Corsa package. He is brave enough to admit his mistake, and we just have to move forward and hope that we can push for a podium finish in Cataluyna in three weeks time".

For more information and photographs www.krismeeke.com

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02/10/03
Meeke wins British Super 1600 Crown for Opel
Kris Meeke, in the Team Palmer Opel Corsa, has secured the 2003 British Super 1600 title on the Rally of Yorkshire, the penultimate round of the British Rally Championship. The young Dungannon driver, in only his second season in the British Rally Championship, won his third S1600 event of the season in the Opel Corsa to clinch the title with one round of the series remaining. To cap a superb weekend for Kris he also retained his British Junior Drivers title.

The McRae Motorsport protégé produced a mature, controlled drive while under considerable pressure to secure the title, as a clash of dates with the JWRC round in Catalunya meant he would be unable to attend the final round. This year’s championship has been extremely competitive, with no fewer than eight different makes of car contesting the Super 1600 British Championship

“I knew we did not need to win here to secure the title, however I am gaining in confidence with each passing event and the times just seemed to be there. The car has run faultlessly all weekend with no mechanical problems whatsoever and thanks must go to Opel and Team Palmer for providing a car with the performance and reliability necessary to be successful at this level The only adjustment to the car over the weekend was to raise the ride height for the second loop of stages, as the surface was becoming somewhat rutted.” said Kris.

“I am delighted to secure the title with one round remaining. We did not set out to contest the Championship in full, as the intention was to use these events as test sessions for the JWRC. However the British Rally Championship has confirmed that the Opel package now has real pace and reliability and with the continued efforts and development of Opel and Team Palmer can become one of the front runners in the JWRC’’

“The spirit within the team is high, and hopefully we can continue our progress with a good result on the Sanremo Rally, the first proper tarmac round of the JWRC.”

"Congratulations to Kris“, said Robert Kübel, project manager of the rally project at Opel Performance Center (OPC), after one of the most significant title victories in the two-year competition history of the Opel Corsa Super 1600. "Kris has matured amazingly since last year, evolving into one of the best drivers amongst international up-and-coming talents. He is able to take the fight to far more experienced drivers and he shows a high ability of self-control. His extreme performances in atrocious weather conditions in the Ulster Rally, but also his ability to put his head down, thus coolly winning the title in the penultimate round, clearly underline his talent.“

Rally Yorkshire Results
1  Kris Meeke / Chris Patterson  GB/GB  		Opel Corsa	1:47:31.1        
2  Aki Teiskonen / Miika Teiskonen  FIN/FIN 	Citroen Saxo	  +1:01.2  
3  Leon Pesticcio / Tim Sturla  GB/GB  		Ford Puma	  +3:18.5  
4  Barry Clark / Neil Shanks  GB/GB  		Ford Puma	  +4:10.3  
5  Garry Jennings / Gordon Noble  GB/GB  		Peugeot 206 	  +6:51.6  
6  Ryan Champion / Cliff Simmons  GB/GB  	Ford Puma	+12:39.4


2003 British S1600 Championship Points

1  Kris Meeke - Opel Corsa		67 
2  Garry Jennings - Peugeot 206 	43 
3  Leon Pesticcio - Fiat Punto		43 
4  Ryan Champion - Ford Puma	38 
5  Gwyndaf Evans - MG ZR		27 
6  Barry Clark - Ford Puma		25 
7  Mirco Baldacci - Fiat Punto	18 
8  Mark Higgins - Renault Clio	15
9  Simon Hughes - Renault Clio	9
10  Steve Hill – Alfa Romeo 147	8
11  Mats Andersson – Proton Satria	7

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08/09/03
Kris Meeke wins Ulster S1600 Thriller! Kris Meeke used his home event to further extend his lead at the top of the S1600 British Rally Championship, by winning S1600 and finishing a fine 6th overall in the Team Palmer Opel Corsa. Armagh was the new base for the Ulster Rally, round five of the British Rally Championship. With Alistair McRae's regular co-driver David Senior on the notes, Kris was in determined mood, and eager to make an immediate impression on the leader board.

With wet and slippery stages on Friday evening, Kris made best use of the little traction available to set a scorching pace, and managed to establish a 16 second lead over championship rival Gwyndaf Evans in the MG. Stage three seen Kris run slightly wide on a left hand bend, and the resulting puncture lost the crew 46 seconds. The lead over Evans had evaporated, and Kris was left in third place in S1600.

With the first three stages repeated again in near darkness, Kris set about regaining some of the lost time, and set a series of stunning times to reduce Evan's overnight lead to only 21 seconds.

The Rally moved west to Gortin near Omagh, for the remaining 10 stages of the Ulster Rally on Saturday. The conditions once again were wet and slippery, but drying all the time. Tyre choice was critical, as Evans and Kris were separated by only tenths of a second on the opening two stages, but Kris made the break he was looking for on SS9 and slashed 7 seconds off the Welshman's lead. Over the next few stages Kris continued to reel in Evans, and succeeded in turning a half a minute deficit to a 4.2 second lead with one stage remaining.

Halfway through the last stage, the cam cover on the Opel cracked open. Kris continued at speeds in excess of 100mph with the windscreen covered in engine oil, in a bid to retain his slender lead over Evans. Unknown to Kris, the MG driver also had engine trouble and failed to make it back to service, as the engine seized on the road section back to Armagh.

"What an amazing event" said Kris. "The team done a fantastic job here this weekend. We have new direction in the team with two new engineers on the car. In the limited time available, they changed a few settings that made the car easier to drive. Also David Senior, who has been used with descriptive notes, easily made the change to my numbered system, and after about two corners of the recce, I knew that it was not going to be a problem.

It was also good to know that we have the pace to win outright, as we were fastest S1600 on twelve of the sixteen stages. It's always easier coming from behind, but Gwyndaf never gives up. There were a few stages that I had absolutely nothing left, but if that's what it takes on your home rally, so be it. It was worth it."

"I would also like to take this opportunity to welcome SKE Solutions (www.skesolutions.com) as a personal sponsor, which has given me the opportunity to turn professional, the benefits of which were shown to the full this weekend!"

British S1600 Championship - Drivers

1 Kris Meeke - Opel Corsa - 52
2 Garry Jennings - Peugeot 206 XS - 34
3 Leon Pesticcio - Fiat Punto - 31
4 Ryan Champion - Ford Puma - 30
5 Gwyndaf Evans - MG ZR - 27

British Rally Championship - Overall Drivers

1 Jonny Milner - Toyota Corolla WRC - 69
2 Austin McHale - Subaru Impreza WRC - 44
3 Tapio Laukkanen - Subaru Impreza WRC - 42
4 Kris Meeke - Opel Corsa - 31
5 Jari-Matti Latvala - Ford Focus WRC01 - 23
6 James Thompson - Mitsubishi Evo - 17
7 Gwyndaf Evans - MG ZR - 17

For more information and photographs www.krismeeke.com