Citroen’s Kris Meeke has finally notched up his very first WRC victory on a dramatic Rally Argentina to become the first British winner since Colin McRae in 2002.Meeke went into the final day of the fourth round in the 2015 World Rally Championship with a comfortable 38.6 seconds on team-mate Mads Ostberg and that gave him the buffer he needed through the two runs through the 16.32 km El Condor test, the Ulsterman eventually taking the win by 18.1 seconds.
The result is a massive boost for Meeke, especially after his tricky start to the 2015 WRC season, with three crashes in as many events.
Meeke now becomes only the fourth Brit to win a WRC round, emulating McRae, Richard Burns and Roger Clark.
“What can I say?” said a tearful Meeke, who did his first WRC event 13 years ago. “It has been an exceptionally long road… and the man who did most is not here.
“This one is for Colin.”
The one-two is also significant for Citroen, as its last victory came on this event with Sebastien Loeb in 2013 and it last one-two was back in 2012 on Rally Finland (with Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen).
Meeke took the lead in the opening test on Friday, coming through it 31.9 seconds up on his closest rival, despite struggling with a broken handbrake. He then lost some time in SS3 due to a right-rear puncture, but did enough to still post the fifth best time, returning to the mid-day halt 15.3 seconds up on Latvala.
On the repeats in afternoon, Meeke won two more tests in his DS 3 WRC to extend his lead to 53.1 seconds and with Latvala having transmission problems in the leg 1 closing short 6.04 km Super Especial Fernet Branca, he concluded the first full-day with a 1 minute 8.4 second cushion.
It was an incident-packed day, however, with no fewer than four big name drivers retiring – namely Championship leader and VW #1 Sebastien Ogier, VW Motorsport II man Andreas Mikkelsen, Hyundai Motorsport N runner Hayden Paddon and M-Sport’s Ott Tanak.
Ogier went out first in SS2, with a fuel supply problem forcing him to park his Polo R WRC 5-6km from the finish.
Mikkelsen and Paddon – despite problems – both made it through the morning loop, only to be unable to start SS4. Tanak did start that test, but lost the front-left wheel after hitting a rock in a water splash.
The drama then continued on Saturday, with Paddon going out again when he went off the road early in SS9, Capilla del Monte-San Marcos 2.
Paddon and co-driver John Kennard both escaped unharmed, but six spectators were hospitalised, with one left in intensive care. The stage was stopped as a result and then cancelled.
At the front, Meeke saw his buffer cut to 32.6s in the morning, losing time in SS7 – the first test of the day – when he had a spin and also losing in SS8, the long 42.50km San Marcos-Characato 1 stage, after opting to take it cautiously.
He was third quickest, however, in SS10 in the afternoon and stretched his lead back to 38.6s ahead of his run to victory on Sunday.
Not that the drama stopped there, as Mikkelsen and Thierry Neuville both crashed out in the Power Stage today after hitting a rock near the start.
Neuville had been on course to finish fourth in his Hyundai i20 WRC, despite losing over 4 minutes in the first ‘proper’ test when he had to stop and change a puncture. Mikkelsen was down in 12th after re-joining under Rally 2 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Ostberg ensured Citroen took the maximum number of manufacturer’s points by taking the runners-up spot, despite not being 100%. The Norwegian set top-five times in every test, but the first one on Friday, when his engine mysteriously cut out.
“It has been a very tough weekend,” Ostberg remarked. “We have worked really hard and I haven’t been feeling well. Of course it was disappointing to lose 45sec with a technical problem earlier but we know the gap at the end, so that’s encouraging.”
M-Sport Elfyn Evans followed up his career-best equalling result of fourth in Mexico last month, by going one better and claiming third, although he had to limp through the last test with broken rear suspension. The Welshman moved ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala in the penultimate stage, when the VW man was forced out with engine problems, another to fall victim to the high attrition rate in Argentina.
Behind, Ford privateer Martin Prokop was fourth, taking his best result of the year and also stretching his run of successive points’ finishes to eight.
Dani Sordo overhauled Citroen third driver Khalid Al Qassimi for P5 in the final stage. The Spaniard had been running fourth on Saturday until an electrical problem put him out. However, returning under Rally 2 he recovered to claim ten points in his Hyundai.
WRC2 runners Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Diego Dominguez were seventh and eighth, the former taking the victory in the principal support category by over 2.5 minutes.
Gustavo Saba and Federico Villagra rounded out the top ten, with Tanak 11th under Rally 2. Paddon and Ogier also finished under Rally 2, coming in 16th and 17th respectively, the latter salvaging three points by winning the event ending Power Stage, something that means his championship lead is only cut by 1 point to 33.
The World Rally Championship now heads back to Europe for round five, with Rally de Portugal running from May 21-24, in four weeks time.
Top twenty overall provisional:
1. Kris Meeke Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS 3 WRC 3h 41m 44.9s M
2. Mads Ostberg Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS 3 WRC +0m 18.1s M
3. Elfyn Evans M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +3m 27.4s M
4. Martin Prokop Jipocar Czech National Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC +6m 26.1s M
5. Dani Sordo Hyundai Motorsport i20 WRC +11m 14.9s M
6. Khalid Al Qassimi Citroen Total Abu Dhabi WRT DS 3 WRC +11m 19.9s
7. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari Ford Fiesta RRC +16m 02.6s WRC2
8. Diego Dominguez Ford Fiesta R5 +18m 48.2s WRC2
9. Gustavo Saba Skoda Fabia S2000 +21m 20.6s
10. Federico Villagra Ford Fiesta MR +25m 19.6s
11. Ott Tanak M-Sport WRT Ford Fiesta RS WRC +25m 52.3s M
12. Jari Ketomaa Ford Fiesta R5 +28m 05.8s WRC2
13. Yuriy Protasov Ford Fiesta RRC +29m 25.4s WRC2
14. Miguel-Angel Baldoni Peugeot 208 MR +31m 45.5s
15. Didier Arias Ford Fiesta R5 +32m 41.4s WRC2
16. Hayden Paddon Hyundai Motorsport N i20 WRC +36m 15.3s M
17. Sebastien Ogier Volkswagen Motorsport Polo R WRC +37m 11.5s M
18. Simone Tempestini Subaru Impreza STi +37m 43.0s WRC2
19. Lorenzo Bertelli Ford Fiesta RS WRC +39m 17.0s M
20. Augusto D’Agostini Volkswagen Golf Trend MR +51m 25.0s