[WRC] Tour de Corse 2019

"I've been quickest there in the past, so it wouldn't necessarily be a surprise to do that again, but the feeling in the car was nice." Meeke added.

"There are no points for shakedown, which is a bit of a bastard given that I've been quickest on three of them this year.

"But still, this rally is going to be won by the driver who has the complete package. That means being comfortable in the car and having a real flow with the notes, the new notes from the new stages; it's about being the driver who had the clean recce and can interpret what they've found on the recce best.

"It's not about the driver who was quickest down a short blast of a stage. I have confidence and now I have to use it."

https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/1...nfidence-boost

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

It maybe shows Meeke's pace when he's 'off the leash'.

I'm sure he's been holding back to some degree on the events so far, ensuring finishes, team points and showing he can be disciplined.

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Yeah possibly, but the problem with Meeke is that maybe mistakes could creep in the more he builds his pace consistently. That will be the next step.

But he's had a pretty good start to the season all things considered.

No real mistakes, would've been fast enough for 4th in Monte and was closer to the top 3 in pace than the likes of Loeb/Latvala were, who finished ahead of him overall due to the two punctures. Nailed the power stage by a margin.

Sweden safe and steady in a rally where he's generally shit. Picked up places when others made mistakes.

Mexico - had decent pace again from 4th on the road compared to guys behind him. Even though he moved into the lead at the start of the 2nd day, the best he would've finished without the puncture was 2nd. Ogier was on another level that weekend.

https://youtu.be/ZC6m7SSPAYk

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rhm

I suppose he's still getting used to a new car? More comfortable to push on a SD stage he's run a few times but also conscious of delivering finishes in the first 3 events of the year. And saving the fastest stage times for when it matters on the Power Stages.

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He won one PS in monte where he did the same the year before in C3.

Anyway there are many ways to read into this, but the contrast is definitely interesting. Similarly Lappi very often gets decent points from Power Stages (both last year and this year) even on rallies where his pace is not very good rest of rally (like in Mexico recently).

Meeke was often fastest on shakedowns in the Citroen as well

Loeb:
These are not the best roads for this car. We worked on it during the tests. The feeling is ok but I’m not sure we will be able to fight with Toyota and Citroën.

https://www.ewrc.cz/images/2019/phot...s_dsc_3724.jpg
https://www.ewrc.cz/images/2019/phot...s_dsc_3754.jpg

amazing caption from Meeke shake pass

https://www.instagram.com/p/BvjgMwqF...d=c5082wq4zbs0

Torn incar crash
https://twitter.com/OfficialWRC/stat...30318894710784

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2wypV5WsAEZvf1.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D2w5xtEW0AEb8i_.jpg