Interview with Kris Meeke

Kris Meeke celebrated his biggest success in rallying in 2009 when he and co-driver Paul Nagle
won the Intercontinental Rally Challenge outright. In 2011, he enters the FIA World Rally
Championship with the MINI WRC Team.

In an interview Meeke speaks about this season’s programme and the high expectations facing
the MINI WRC Team.

Kris, for 2011 only a selection of WRC events are on your schedule. Will it be a quiet
season for you?

“No, to go into a season without aiming to win is a waste. Then we may as well not
even enter and save an awful lot of effort. In our instance we need to find the right balance. We
can’t win the title; however, we still aim to prove how competitive we are.”

What does the MINI WRC Team hope to gain from entering selected events?

“Experience under competitive conditions. We believe we are currently up to speed.
However, that can only be confirmed in direct competition. Therefore we need to use the events
to ensure we are competitive as soon as possible. 2012 will be a very important year for us
because then we will judged over an entire season. Already we are feeling the weight of
expectations – and gladly accept the challenge.”

Do you feel under pressure to perform against your team-mate Dani Sordo?

“Well, we are not competing wheel-to-wheel as you do in Formula One, where teammates
often push and shove. In rallying it is totally different because there is a lot of respect
among the teams. We drive solely against the stopwatch, not against other teams or even our
team-mates.”

Which event are you most looking forward to?

“I have no favourites. At the moment all I am hoping is that it gets under way as soon as
possible so we can develop the car.”