Briton Meeke and Spaniard Sordo were under strict orders to accumulate vital running in their John Cooper Works WRCs in Italy and Finland earlier this season. However, for the team’s third start at world level, Richards wants his drivers to run closer to the front, despite conceding recently that a lack of engine development will rule out a bid for victory on the Tarmac event.
“We have high expectations going into Rally Germany,” said Richards. “The MINI has shown a great deal of promise in recent Tarmac tests in Germany and Italy and both drivers have told me how much confidence they have in the set-up. Dani, in particular, very much likes this rally and I know that he and Kris have traded times on these stages in the past. Unlike Finland, where our number one priority was to get valuable competitive mileage on the car, in Germany we will be looking for both drivers to begin to demonstrate the true performance of the MINI.”
Meeke, who claimed victory in the Junior world championship section of Rallye Deutschland back in 2006, said: “The engine is one of the areas we’re working on as part of the ongoing development. We could be exposed in Germany because of all the junctions – there are 80 on the Arena Panzerplatte stage alone – but at the same time we have to remember this is only our third rally and our first on Tarmac.”
While Meeke has excelled in Germany in the past, Sordo is perhaps better equipped to take the fight to MINI’s rivals on the Trier-based event. He’s regarded as an asphalt specialist and has been second on three previous occasions in Germany during his stint with Citroen.
“This is a rally I am really looking forward to,” he said. “I like the stages in all three areas – the vineyards, the military training ground and the normal roads. It has lots of hairpins, which are very different to the tight corners we get in Spain. I particularly enjoy driving in the vineyards as these roads are narrow and fast.”
wrc.com