Meeke tops Corsica warm-up

Kris Meeke claimed his third shakedown victory of the season in Thursday morning’s sun-kissed warm-up at Corsica linea - Tour de Corse.

The Briton was quickest through the 5.39km Sorbo Ocagnano test by 0.9sec from Sébastien Ogier’s Citroën C3. Meeke’s Toyota Yaris team-mate and championship leader, Ott Tänak, was a further 0.5sec behind in third.

Meeke posted the three fastest times of the morning on the dry asphalt. His opening run was the benchmark, until he shaved a tenth from it in his third and final pass.

“Unfortunately there are no points for shakedown, which is a real shame as I have been fastest on three of them this year!” Meeke joked.

“It felt good this morning and I have to try to carry that confidence and translate it through to the rally, that’s the important part. We tried a different setting on the final run and it still felt very good, so we have two nice options for the rally.

“It was a different damper which offers a different type of set-up. Both seemed to work quite well, and with the different characteristics of this rally I think we can use that,” he added.

Dani Sordo was the leading Hyundai i20 driver in fourth, 2.2sec off the pace. Jari-Matti Latvala ensured a third Yaris in the top five, while Elfyn Evans completed the top six in a Ford Fiesta.

The leading times were:

1. Kris Meeke Toyota Yaris 3min 46.7sec
2. Sébastien Ogier Citroën C3 + 0.9sec
3. Ott Tänak Toyota Yaris + 1.4sec
4. Dani Sordo Hyundai i20 + 2.2sec
5. Jari-Matti Latvala Toyota Yaris + 2.3sec
6. Elfyn Evans Ford Fiesta + 2.5sec
7. Esapekka Lappi Citroën C3 + 2.7sec
8. Sébastien Loeb Hyundai i20 + 2.8sec
9. Thierry Neuville Hyundai i20 + 3.4sec
10. Teemu Suninen Ford Fiesta + 4.6sec