Meeke: C3 can fight anywhere
Kris Meeke believes his rally-leading performance at the Che Guevara Energy Drink Tour de Corse confirms Citroën's C3 is capable of challenging for wins at all nine of the rallies that remain in 2017.
The Briton arrived at the first all-asphalt rally of the season in high spirits after winning Rally Guanajuato México in March. And he wasted no time in showing his car's asphalt strengths as he established a comfortable 10.3sec lead at the end of day one in Corsica.
He extended that advantage to 16.4sec after Saturday's opening speed test, before a terminal engine problem ended his event at the end of the following 'Novella 1' stage.
The cause of the engine failure is unknown and it's unlikely it will be confirmed until Meeke's car has been properly examined at Citroën Sport's factory in Versailles, France.
But Meeke believes the car's performance on Corsica's tricky asphalt has strengthened his belief that the C3 will be capable of winning any of the events that remain this season.
"The C3 gave me incredible confidence this weekend and we definitely know we can go to every rally with the confidence to fight at the front," he said. "For me, Corsica is the biggest test on tarmac roads in the WRC and we were leading comfortably.
Meeke was philosophical about the engine failure that ended his hopes of taking his second WRC victory in as many events.
He said: "What's happened is part of the game. There are tens of thousands of working components on this car and sometimes it doesn't work. I'm frustrated with how today has ended but we'll come back stronger."
