Meeke favouring rain for Zlín’s IRC round

Kris Meeke would favour a wet Barum Czech Rally Zlín because he believes it could make for more of a level playing field on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge event.

Meeke, the defending IRC champion, finished second on his debut in Czech Republic last season at the wheel of his Peugeot UK 207 Super 2000.

Although he accepts wet conditions will increase the challenge facing the crews, he fears he won’t be able to match the pace of the Škoda Fabia S2000s, which are being tipped to dominate the asphalt event, in the event of dry weather.

“It is going to be very difficult and will make it very treacherous but when it rains it maybe evens the competition a little bit more,” said Meeke. “It’s tricky in the dry as well but in the wet at least it’s more consistent and you’re cautious everywhere - it’s easy to get a false sense of security in the dry.”

Local weather forecasts suggest showers are “likely” tomorrow with as much as 4mm of rain expected to fall in the morning and 5mm in the afternoon. The forecast for Sunday is for dry and sunny conditions.