Citroën Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team crew Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle scored their third podium finish of the season with a superb third overall on Rally Finland, the eighth round of the 2014 World Rally Championship.
The Northern Irishman started today’s short final leg in third place, comfortably clear of his nearest pursuer and able to keep a watching brief on the hectic scrap for victory between Finn Jari-Matti Latvala and reigning world champion Sebastien Ogier.
Neither of the leading VWs tripped up during the three stages in today’s schedule – including the final test, which was the bonus-points Power Stage. Kris maintained a strong pace throughout too, though, setting third fastest time on the final stage to get an extra point.
However, it was the podium finish that really mattered – particularly since Kris had crashed out in the penultimate stage of this event last year, after a similarly strong performance.
“It’s a pretty special result,” said Kris. “This is one of the biggest rallies of them all, so it’s great to get a podium here. But we’re still not near perfection; Jari-Matti has been the epitome of perfection in driving a rally car this weekend. Until I get there I’ll keep working on it.”
As he battled hard to regain fourth position and having moved clear of Mikko Hirvonen, Mads Østberg’s challenge ground to a halt when an impact after landing a jump damaged his car’s roll cage on SS18. Diagnosed at the midday service, the problem forced the Norwegian out of the rally.
The next round of the 2014 WRC is Rally Deutschland, which takes place on 21-24 August. It’s an event where Kris has shown strong pace in previous years, so he’ll be looking to build on his Finnish finish and fight again for the podium positions.
Rally Finland – top six finishers:
1 Jari-Matti Latvala (VW Polo WRC) 2h57m23.2s
2 Sebastien Ogier (VW Polo WRC) +3.6
3 Kris Meeke (Citroën DS3 WRC) +50.6
4 Andreas Mikkelsen (VW Polo WRC) +1m52.5s
5 Mikko Hirvonen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +2m49.7s
6 Juho Hanninen (Hyundai i20 WRC) +4m29.0s