Quote Originally Posted by Norm75 View Post
In both cases, Meeke and the touring car Loeb episode, just shows the psa group to be as inconsistent as the handling of the c3.
Yes, I'm a Brit and yes I'm a meeke fan. To be honest, I thought his days in shitroen were probably numbered at the end of the season, unless he had a run of good results.

He has had more than his share of bad luck, usually when fighting for the win or podium position. I think frustration has always got the better of him, which is why we see the crashes in the lower positions on the leaderboard.
Given the way the team has been run, I think any driver in his position would feel added pressure, only running two cars on certain events, possibility of being dropped willy nilly, results led decision on remaining in the championship next year etc.

As for Kris being top three fastest drivers, I believe given the right tools it's certainly a possibility. 2016 was probably the only year where he had no pressure, in a car that development had stopped, was really the only serious challenger to Ogier, winning rallies and taken out of a couple while fighting for the lead, by some unfortunately placed rocks on the racing line.

I would like to see him in a fiesta, probably a better bet than Elfyn. Unfortunately age is against him so this will not become a reality I doubt.
I think this is true, he can produce fast stage times and when the pressure was off him in 2016 he looked better than ever. But that also shows that when the pressure is on he falters. When you're contracted for a full season there's always at least a slight amount of pressure that you need to deliver for the sake of a championship, be it manu or drivers. Meeke himself said before Monte that everyone wants to win the championship, to do that as a driver you have to cope.

Sure the C3 is not state of the art, but that doesn't excuse him to bin it in the side of the road whenever it's not working as good as the other cars. He's a very brave man to push those limits, which is admirable, but he's also not very measured in his approach which hinders his potential success. By judging his history that won't change.