Kris Meeke insists he’s 100 per cent fit and ready for Rally de Portugal, just three weeks after suffering the biggest accident of his career.
The Northern Irishman crashed his Citroën C3 twice at last month’s YPF Rally Argentina – rolling eight times at high speed on the second occasion [see below].
This afternoon in Matosinhos, as he and co-driver Paul Nagle prepare to start the championship’s Portuguese counter they won last year, Meeke said the car’s safety systems did their job perfectly.
“For sure the car was designed very strong, and if there is such a thing as a perfect accident for a rally car, this was it. The car rolled and dissipated the energy and we were able to walk away.”
“We had routine check-ups but I had no soreness or stiffness – I was just a biz dazed. No dramas at all. Now I feel 100 per cent fine,” he told wrc.com.
One of the pre-season title favourites, Meeke lies a lowly ninth in the standings after three retirements from five rounds and is aiming for a trouble-free run this week.
“It’s been a really difficult start to the year. We have had lots of technical issues and I have made a few mistakes too. Hopefully here we have made some steps to improve that,” he said.
“The simple goal this weekend is to try and enjoy it, and get a clean run on the technical front and from my own performance.”
