Kris Meeke to lead the show in Corsica

Legendary Tour de Corse is only few days away, and rally community is bracing itself for what could be another amazing edition of this fascinating rally. It’s ruthless tarmac stages are well known for their complexity, but that’s only one part of their charm. Often called the rally of 10.000 corners, Tour de Corse will put crews through huge test, unlike any other tarmac rally. These days, Tour de Corse is part of FIA European Rally Championship, which means we can count on superb media coverage, strong line-up and excellent battles out on the stages.

What else would you call a rally with Francois Delecour, Craig Breen, Jan Kopecky, Robert Kubica and Bryan Bouffier (to name but a few) on the entry list?

But these stars will have another star leading them on, when the action begins later this week. 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Kris Meeke will be in charge of “warming up” the spectators. Meeke was offered a drive in a zero car, Peugeot 208 R2. As you might expect, Kris acted like a sequential gearbox, shooting out “Yes!” instantly.

[quote]“I didn’t need asking twice when I was asked if I would like to do it,” said Meeke. “The 208 R2 is an amazing car and I absolutely love driving it. After sitting on the sidelines for a while and not driving on rallies, I’m really keen to be out again.”, Meeke said, according to FIAERC.com.[/quote]

I made a rather silly mistake of wanting to say too much in a space of one tweet today, so it led some people to believe I was actually bashing Kris for being a “zero” car, while also saying his return to rally action was slow and painful. Colin McMaster was very kind in pointing out few important facts about Kris, and I completely agree with all that was said.

What I wanted to say was, Kris’ efforts to secure a seat in any of the major rally series are showing signs of progress, but to some extent, it’s like he never won that title, and is forced to go through it all again, baby steps and through no fault of his own. Great thing about Kris is he is keeping himself busy and in shape, and is constantly on the radar. For any and every new and existing team, looking for a driver with plenty of experience at highest level, Mr. Meeke is the obvious choice.

And finally, the absolute best part of this news is that Meeke was offered to drive a zero car by none other than Peugeot Sport, confirming the importance of his job as test and development driver.

After all, zero is also a rally number!