MINI team happy with Meeke

MINI's Technical Director Dave Wilcock has said that Kris Meeke has earned his seat in the WRC.

"We are very, very pleased with the car and Kris. We all know what Dani is capable of on this rally and he drove a fantastic rally, but I think Kris showed what he was capable of here as well; he demonstrated why he is worthy of his place in the field. For me, Kris had nothing to prove, but he did just that here." said Wilcock.

Both Meeke & team-mate Dani Sordo ran very strongly throughout the course of Rallye Deutschland. Meeke ran fifth for most of the event before dropping behind Petter Solberg after he had a trip into the vineyard. Only 7 secs behind Solberg going into SS18, Meeke's MINI ground to a halt, with suspected alternator failure.

Meeke himself was disappointed with retirement, but he said he will take away positives from the event, having been on or near the pace of known tarmac-specialist team-mate Dani Sordo right up until his puncture & vineyard excursion.

"Not finishing was obviously hugely frustrating, but we have set some times on this rally. It was a bit of a lottery out there with regards to punctures, but we're taking the positives away from here. When everything was going well and we had no punctures, we were right there with Dani."

MINI WRC Team boss Dave Richards praised Meeke's performances, stating he thinks Meeke has been 'underestimated for many years': "Kris has done a great job. Generally, he should be very proud of what he's done. I had little doubt this was the performance he was going to do, personally, I think he's been underestimated for many years."