Meeke blameless, says boss van Dalen

Marc van Dalen has refused to blame Kris Meeke for the crash that put the reigning Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion out of Rally d’Italia-Sardegna earlier today.

Meeke, 30, was battling for first place when he crashed his Peugeot UK 207 Super 2000. The accident was captured live on Eurosport.

“When you have a fight for two days like this and you drive at a minimum of 100 per cent, things like this can happen, this is rally and we have to accept this,” said van Dalen, whose Kronos Racing operation runs Meeke’s Peugeot. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It could have been Kris, Juho [Hänninen], Paolo Andreucci or [Jan] Kopecký. They are all driving like crazy but Kris was the unlucky one.”

Meeke’s retirement means Juho Hänninen’s lead is now 38.9s with three stages remaining.