Colin McRae protégé Kris Meeke took another step towards clinching the Intercontinental Rally Championship at the inaugural RallyScotland in November by extending his lead following his second-place in the Czech Rally.
Meeke, who dropped a massive 31 seconds on the field when he suffered a puncture on the first stage relegating him to 33rd, battled his way back despite suffering from a sever head cold and raging temperatures.
“I really had to pull the stops out this weekend,” the Peugeot driver admitted. “This head cold has been a nightmare, but the doctors gave me an injection and that certainly helped.’
Meeke, who now leads the championship by three points from Czech driver Jan Kopecky — who won his home event by 64secs from Meeke as the Irishman backed off towards the end of the rally — is looking forward to the Scottish finale.
“Of course there’s a long way to go before we get to the season’s finale in Scotland,” he continued. “We’ve rallies in Spain and Italy next month, but we’ve put ourselves in a strong position.
“I’ve always said it would be a dream to win the IRC championship in Scotland where I spent so much time with Colin. We’ll celebrate today, but then I have to start the build-up to Spain.”
The inaugural RallyScotland, which gets underway on November 19, will be based in both Stirling and Perth and will be contested on many of the fastest and most demanding forest stages in the country.
JM