Kris Meeke’s Rally Argentina ended in disappointment as yet more gremlins struck his IRC class Peugeot 207 and he was forced to retire on the final day.
An electronics problem had already cost onetime rally leader Meeke valuable time during the morning’s stages, but with the car seemingly fixed during the 30-minute service and Meeke able to continue, he had managed to keep in touch with the eventual winner Juho Hänninen in his Skoda Fabia, and had enjoyed a battle for second and third with Guy Wilks and Jan Kopecky, also in Skodas.
But then, on the penultimate stage 14, bad luck returned for Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle with the 207 S2000 suffering broken steering which forced them to retire from the rally and ushered in a Skoda one-two-three.
“It is really disappointing after all the niggling little problems we’ve had this weekend, but safety must come first,” said the 31-year-old.
“We’ll take stock and move on.”
The news wasn’t much better for Nasser al-Attiyah. Having already suffered a double puncture, the Qatari’s Skoda Fabia developed an engine misfire due to waterlogging from a water jump on stage 10, meaning that al-Attiyah was forced to limp through the remainder of the stage and then miss stages 11 and 12, with his rally effectively over.
Meeke now lies fourth in the fledgling IRC standings, though with 10 points to Hänninen’s 14 at the top and Wilks’s 11 in second (with IRC guest Mikko Hirvonen in third but effectively out of the running now that the WRC season is ongoing), his season is far from over in spite of his Argentina setback.
For more news and results, visit www.ircseries.com
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