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Citroen WRC driver Meeke crashes in pre-Rally Sweden test

Citroen World Rally Championship driver Kris Meeke has accepted full responsibility for the accident that ended his pre-Rally Sweden test prematurely on Sunday.

The Northern Irishman slid into a ditch on his penultimate run in a day-long test close to Torsby, ahead of the start of the second round of the season on Thursday.

The C3 WRC rolled, but was undamaged and would have continued had the day's running not been nearing its conclusion anyway.

"It was my mistake," Meeke told Autosport.

"I was braking for a corner and got sucked into the ditch on the inside and the car rolled.

"That's it. It was a very slow accident.

"Otherwise, the day had gone well and we'd made good progress.

"I'm happy with the running we did and with our preparations for the event.

"If it had have happened earlier in the day, we'd have been back on our wheels and running in no time.

"This is why we go testing, these things can happen."

Citroen's test C3 WRC had already been in the wars after Meeke's team-mate Craig Breen dropped it the day before, damaging a rear quarter.

Meeke starts the second round of 2017 looking to score his first points of the season after he crashed on the Friday of the Monte Carlo Rally and was then hit by a non-competing car on the Saturday.

That early exit means Meeke will start at the back of the pack of 2017 WRC cars, which means he could benefit from heavy snowfall in the days leading up to the Thursday evening start.

"Sweden's really difficult to judge the conditions," he said.

"If it's icy with just a small amount of snow on the surface, we could struggle, but if it snows it could be better for us.

"We'll have to see."

Zdroj: autosport.com