WRC: Citroën drops Kris Meeke for crashing too often

In a swift announcement, Citroen Racing World Rally Team (Citroen WRT) has fired Kris Meeke and his co-driver Paul Nagle after a serious crash during Rally Portugal.

Though Meeke has a reputation for crashing, it appears this particular incident is the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, as even Meeke appears to have been caught by surprise.

A statement released by Citroen WRT says the decision is effective from the upcoming Rally Italia Sardegna, which Meeke recently said he was looking forward to.

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“Due to an excessively high number of crashes, some of which were particularly heavy and could have had serious consequences with regard to the crew’s safety, and given that the risks involved were unjustified by the sporting stakes at play, Citroën Racing WRT has decided to terminate the participation of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle in the 2018 WRC,” the Citroen statement says.

“We will shortly be announcing the team’s line-up of crews for the remainder of the 2018 season.

“The entries of C3 WRCs for Craig Breen and Scott Martin, and Mads Ostberg and Torstein Eriksen still stand for Sardinia.”

But, from the outside, it seems no one told Kris Meeke this was to be announced. In a Facebook post published only several minutes before Citroen’s announcement, Meeke addressed the crash and said he was looking forward to continuing the season.

“Now that a few days have passed since Rally of Portugal, I thought it would be a good to get back in touch with a bit of perspective on our accident - and to look ahead to the next event,” Meeke wrote.

“Of course, you’ll have seen the pictures of our C3 WRC after the crash last weekend and the damage didn’t look too pretty.

“That’s led to a bit of an over-reaction from the wider rallying community, I’d say, because it probably ended up looking more serious than it really was.

“It was my mistake, I know, and we went just that little bit too wide and then into the trees.”

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The post goes into some detail about the car and what happened post-crash, but finishes up on a happier note.

“So Portugal’s over now, and we’re already looking forward to Sardinia in a couple of weeks.

“Our starting position should help us again and we’ve a pre-event test coming up where I know the Citroen Racing team will be able to try a few more ideas on set-up, having learned more on the car last weekend.

“It’ll be good to put those changes and improvements into practice, and I’m optimistic that we’ll be able to give our season fresh momentum again as we head into summer.”

Perhaps in an effort to explain the difficulty with severing ties with Meeke and Nagle, Citroen WRT principal Pierre Budar acknowledged that it was a tough call to make.

“This wasn’t an easy decision to make because it effects [sic] a driver and a co-driver, but it is largely founded on safety issues which come under my preoccupations as team principal,” Budar says.

“We have consequently chosen to make this decision as a preventive measure.”

At present, Meeke has not publically acknowledged the announcement, though Nagle has retweeted a post from WRC commentator Becs Williams, in response to a few kind words from Carlos del Barrio, a former team mate of Meeke.