Meeke and Sordo set for more MINI magic

MINI WRC Team stars Kris Meeke and Dani Sordo say they are ready and waiting to return to world championship duty on Neste Oil Rally Finland next week.

The duo impressed on the debut of MINI’s John Cooper Works WRC on Rally Italia Sardegna in early May with Meeke setting a top-three fastest stage time and Sordo landing WRC drivers’ points in sixth overall.

Despite Meeke’s much-publicised testing crash in Finland recently, he and Sordo managed to cover 750 kilometres of running between them during a three-day stretch.

“The feeling is good,” said Northern Irishman Meeke. “What happened to me on the first day [of the test] was just one of those things, but it wakes you up a bit to Finland, it’s just a little reminder that the place can bite you. I have to say, we were unfortunate with what happened, but after that I’ve been really pleased with the test. The car ran really well and myself and Dani have got some really good kilometres under our belt and we’re very well prepared for Finland.”

Sordo added: “The car felt really nice to drive during the test. It’s easy to drive on these roads - the chassis set-up is very good and the suspension gives us good balance. I like to drive in Finland, it’s really good fun - and it’s going to be great to get the car running for our second event.”

Spaniard Sordo has competed on the Jyvaskyla-based event more often than Meeke, with six starts to Meeke’s four. Sordo’s best results in the country have been a pair of fourth places, while Meeke only managed one finish when he came home in 39th position in 2005 during his stint in the Junior world championship.

Beyond the factory MINIs, four more private John Cooper Works WRCs will take the start of the eighth round of this year’s WRC from 28-30 July.