Meeke happy with tarmac test

Kris Meeke has said that he is happy with the new MINI Countryman’s performance on tarmac after he took completely in the car’s first tarmac test.

“The car was great. The feedback from the chassis was perfect and that’s something which is much more pronounced on asphalt. I have driven a lot of cars in the last few years and I can tell you this one has been born very well. I’m really pleased, I just want to get on and drive it more and more.”

The test ran for four days, two on tarmac and two on gravel. All four days testing took place on the island of Sardinia.

The test took place over two days on tarmac. The team was testing different set-ups as well as testing new tyres from Michelin, who will make their come-back with the team after a 5-year sabbatical from the sport. Meeke and the team tested the new wet tyres on the first day of the test during heavy rain. When the test road dried out, they tested the new dry-spec hard and soft compound tyres.

“We tested soft and hard [tarmac] tyres in wet and dry conditions. The weather went from very wet to nearly dry on the first day and nearly dry to dry on the next day. When we arrived at the test and the rain was horizontal and the wind was 50 miles per hour or something, we thought this could be a disaster, but the conditions actually turned out to be very good. And, let’s face it, when you can experience those conditions on a rally, you’ve got to be prepared for them by testing.” said David Lapworth, technical boss of the team.

Lapworth also said that they made small set-up changes to the car, and the final set-up was close to were they started.

“We made a few sensitivity changes to see how the car reacted on asphalt, but we ended the test very close to where we had started in terms of set-up, which was very good.”

During a gravel test session, Meeke and the MINI team tested damper set-ups with damper supplier Öhlins.

“We were very happy by the time we’d finished the test. We got an awful lot of work done with Öhlins”

Dani Sordo was also present at the test. Sordo completed one day on gravel and one day on tarmac in the new car. No news has yet been released regarding Sordo signing to MINI, but it is widely expected that he will sign for the team.