Seb Marshall will join Toyota Gazoo Racing World Rally Team as Kris Meeke’s new co-driver. He has four years of experience at the highest level of the FIA World Rally Championship with Hyundai. First Marshall worked with Kevin Abbring. Then he was in a crew with Hayden Paddon since Portugal 2017, scoring four podium finishes.
Meeke and Marshall will begin working together later this month.
Meeke made a statement on Facebook saying that “things are falling into place nicely for 2019 now”
“Things are going to begin again for me in earnest, so it’s good timing that we’ve announced today that my co-driver for 2019 will be Seb Marshall.”
“As I mentioned when the Toyota deal was confirmed, I owe a great debt of thanks to my former navigator Paul Nagle. He and I went through highs and lows together, and he was a terrific companion over those times. I’ll always treasure our victories together in Argentina, Portugal, Finland, Mexico and Catalunya.”
“Next year represents a fresh challenge for me, though, so it’s a blank sheet of paper, with a new guy reading the pacenotes. I’ve actually known Seb for quite a long time, in fact, and we all know he’s right up there at the level.”
Meeke added that the priority is to build up a relationship between himself and Marshall in the car. “And that’ll start in competition terms in Monte Carlo. But we’ll have a fair bit of testing beneath us by the time we get to that point. And that will help. So I’m very pleased he’s joining me, and I’m confident for the future.”
Seb Marshall himself thanked Hayden Paddon and Hyundai, pointing out that their time as a crew was the most successful in his career up to now
“It’s tough to call time on a partnership as strong as ours and it’s a decision I deliberated over at length. However, an opportunity arose which I felt I couldn’t ignore, so, from 2019, I’ll be co-driving for Kris Meeke”, he added.
Some news on @OfficialWRC 2019…
Big thanks to @HaydenPaddon & @HMSGOfficial, and hello to @krismeeke & @TGR_WRC! pic.twitter.com/yNdpGLl1nG
— Seb Marshall (@sebmarshall) December 4, 2018
