KRIS MEEKE AND BFGOODRICH WRAP UP 2009 DRIVERS TITLE!
Victory for Kris Meeke on this weekend's Rallye Sanremo has seen the British Peugeot/BFGoodrich driver sew up the 2009 Drivers' title with one round of this season's Intercontinental Rally Challenge still to come. BFGoodrich, which has already made sure of the Manufacturers' crown with its partner Peugeot, monopolised the final podium of the Italian classic despite fierce opposition from its rivals.
Before the start of the 2009 Rallye Sanremo, two drivers were still in the running for this year's title, namely Jan Kopecky (Skoda/BFGoodrich), winner of two recent rounds on the trot, and Kris Meeke (Peugeot/BFGoodrich), who pocketed three victories during the early part of the campaign.
The Skoda/BFGoodrich driver got his weekend off to a flying start by posting the fastest time on Friday's opening stage, but he then went off on the following test, promptly handing his rival a clear edge in the chase for the coveted crown. As things stood on Friday evening, though, with Kris Meeke in fourth place behind two Italians and his team-mate Vouilloz, the outcome was by no means completely decided.
When competition resumed today, however, the Ulsterman turned on the heat at the wheel of his Peugeot 207 S2000 running on hard compound BFGoodrich tyres to claim the classic Monte Ceppo and Colle d’Oggia tests and ease clear at the top of the leaderboard, ahead of Luca Rossetti's factory-run Abarth/BFGoodrich.
From then on, even brake trouble on SS7 couldn't prevent Kris Meeke and his co-driver from controlling from in front to clinch the 2009 IRC crown at their first attempt in this particularly thrilling and competitive series.
The early domination of Paolo Andreucci (Peugeot) soon faded and the second leg rapidly saw the BFGoodrich brigade take control, its ranks led by Kris Meeke, Luca Rossetti, outgoing champion Nicolas Vouilloz and the latter's Peugeot-Belux team-mate Freddy Loix. Despite the usual fierce competition it has come to expect in Sanremo, BFGoodrich went on to secure the top four places in the final classification.
Following its successes in 2007 (Garcia-Ojeda and Peugeot) and 2008 (Vouilloz and Peugeot), today's result hands the American tyre brand a third consecutive IRC Drivers' and Manufacturers' double. The weekend also saw BFGoodrich claim both titles in the two-wheel drive category, too, in association with Peugeot and Frenchman Denis Millet.
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Jacques Morelli (manager of BFGoodrich's IRC programme): "In addition to the fact that we have now secured this year's main titles, I would also like to underline Pierre Campana's success in Group R3 here with his BFGoodrich-equipped Clio which finished ahead of all the Italian Clios running on rival tyres. This weekend's result has seen BFGoodrich enjoy rich pickings and our tyres have once again succeeded in showcasing their potential. Today's long, tough stages, and the longest stage of the championship (44km), which took place yesterday evening, were all monopolised by BFGoodrich runners, which I see as an eloquent pointer to the performance and durability of our customer competition range of tyres."
Photos: IRC Series
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- Special feature on Peugeot UK and Kris Meeke winning the IRC Drivers’ title in Sanremo
- IRC RALLY SCOTLAND – KRIS MEEKE AND BFGOODRICH ROUND OFF 2009 IN STYLE!
- Peugeot UK photos & video of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle winning the IRC title
Tags: 2009, bf goodrich, champion, drivers title, intercontinental rally challenge, IRC, kris meeke, kronos, marc van dalen, paul nagle, peugeot uk, wins
