Meeke: I have to improve

Kris Meeke has acknowledged he needs to take action after a miserable start to the season left him languishing eleventh in the drivers’ championship.

The Citroen Total Abu Dhabi team driver finished 16th at Rally Guanajuato Mexico after crashing and retiring on the first day of competition. He crashed too at the season opening Rallye Monte-Carlo and went off into a snow bank in Sweden.

“I went to Mexico looking to eliminate mistakes and score points. Instead I did exactly what I didn’t want to do,” the Briton told wrc.com. “It’s frustrating. The fact is I’m not doing my job well enough at the moment and I have to improve. Simple as that.”

Meeke’s Mexico got off a good start with fastest time on the first gravel stage, Los Mexicanos, but he went off on one of the first corners of the 44 kilometre-long El Chocolate that followed, slamming his DS 3 into a roadside bank. His team-mate Mads Ostberg meanwhile finished second in Mexico and lies fourth in the title standings with 32 points compared to Meeke’s 10.

“Before the next round in Argentina we have six weeks to build up again,” said Meeke. “I usually do a lot of work between rallies - but I probably need to step back a bit now. When you don’t get a good result on the first rally, you want it on the second and that rolled onto the third. It compounds itself. I need to have a bit of a reset. I need to get it right.”