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Meeke: More work to do

Citroën's Kris Meeke admits there is more work to do if he's to get his championship back on track following another no-score at Vodafone Rally de Portugal last weekend season.

After an incident-filled start to the year, Meeke was desperate to get a solid result in the bag in Portugal.

He started strongly on Friday, when a joint win on Stage 4 kept him in the fight for the lead, but the challenge ended shortly after, when he slid wide in the afternoon's Ponte de Lima (SS7) stage and broke his C3's rear suspension on a concrete block.

"I braked a bit late on the Tarmac and that was it, simple as that. It was difficult to get the rhythm back when something like that happens. For me, a stupid one like that really knocks your confidence more than a big one like we had in Argentina," Meeke told wrc.com

A deflated Meeke returned on Saturday in Rally 2 but wasn't able to match his earlier competitive pace. The Briton believes information gathered during the event could help explain why.

"We seemed to be quite competitive on Friday then struggled on Saturday's type of stages. In that respect we've learned quite a bit from Portugal," he said.

"Okay, we weren't at the perfect rhythm because we weren't in the fight but still our speed wasn't great. I was in the lead battle all the way on Friday and we lost a minute and a half on Saturday. It would seem we have work to do in certain areas.

"Going forward, we just just continue working. There's no question the championship is out the window now. We have to use every event as a test," he said.

Zdroj: wrc.com