Citroen WRT

[danon]

Good move by Citroen!

Kri$ Meeke is safe, alive and healthy.

[T16]

Seems they are saying the publicity of the crashes is damaging the Citroen brand ...

Where do they say that?

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Where do they say that?

Reading between the lines...

The PR Dept wouldnt want more pictures like that going around the world.

Do you really believe its 'safely issues' and a 'preventative measure' to save Meeke from himself ?

[RaunoK]

Reading between the lines...

Do you really believe its 'safely issues' and a 'preventative measure' to save Meeke from himself ?

Not only Meeke and Nagle, but spectators too. The media backlash would do great damage to Citroen brand if Meeke's accident would hurt any of the spectators, especially considering Citroen has had numerous warnings from all those crashes.

[Francis44]

Obviously they have been wanting to get
rid of him, purely because the results are not there.

Not fair to do it mid season, but honestly they gave him plenty of chances.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

It certainly doesnt fit in with their latest Ad campaign: 'Comfort is the new cool'... this is their future direction.

I think they were going to pull the plug on WRC at the end of the season anyway, and they dont want to risk damage to their brand before they go.

[T16]

Reading between the lines...

The PR Dept wouldnt want more pictures like that going around the world.

Do you really believe its 'safely issues' and a 'preventative measure' to save Meeke from himself ?

I didn't say I thought that at all!!

I think he's costing them too much money and it's pointless him being in the car if he can't bring it home. The car hasn't been right from day one and Kris is too stubborn to just cruise around and get a result, because it makes it look like he's the slow one, not the car.

They had a full season last one, with testing and development in-between, but they just haven't progressed. There's a lot wrong at PSA at the moment and with the end of their programme imminent (i.e. probably this year will be their last) they simply didn't see the value in pouring more and more cash into the car.

It's a sad end to their current chapter in the WRC, but it's been plainly obvious fro the start of last year that they were not really in the game.

Hopefully Peugeot may fill the gap, if they see the marketing value in the WRC again.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I think he's costing them too much money and it's pointless him being in the car if he can't bring it home.

I think the cost in bad publicity is far higher.

[macebig]

Unless Ford and Wilson want him for taping into the "McRae legacy", this is the end of the road for Kris Meeke. It's saddening that his career had to end like this, but the truth is, everything was a vicious circle. He fought a lot of demons (Colin's passing, Mini + Prodrive fallout, bad C3). He always managed to rebuilt his career, but now things are very difficult. Good luck to his future endeavours.

[Francis44]

The change from Citroen to Peugeot for their rally programme has been written in the wall for years, you need to be completely naive not to see it.

Citroen is not a sporty brand anymore, and they never were, they have tried it with the DS3 Racing and such but there targets have changed.

And recently Peugeot's boss hinted that they would invest further in GTI models, you do the math.