Citroen effectively fired Kris Meeke and his co-driver Paul Nagle with immediate effect. The team announced the termination of their participation in the 2018 WRC from Sardinia onwards.
Citroen issued the following statement:
“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, Citroen Racing WRT has decided to terminate the participation of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle in the 2018 WRC.”
“The decision becomes effective from the 2018 Rally Italia Sardegna and 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/Scott Martin and Mads Ostberg/Torstein Eriksen still stand for Sardinia.”
Citroen Racing principal Pierre Budar said: “This wasn’t an easy decision to make because it effects a driver and a co-driver, but it is largely founded on safety issues which come under my preoccupations as Team Principal. We have consequently chosen to make this decision as a preventive measure.”
Meeke’s latest crash was in Portugal.
SS12: @krismeeke crash #RallydePortugal #WRC #wrclive pic.twitter.com/SkbhgzvSyL
— WRC (@OfficialWRC) May 19, 2018
Citroen’s decision is probably a surprise for Meeke
Less than an hour before the team’s announcement he published a completely different view on his Facebook page.
“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”, Meeke wrote.
