Kris Meeke saw his pre-Rally Sweden test ended early when he slid into a ditch on Sunday, with the Citroen World Rally Championship star taking full responsibility.
Rally Sweden is set to get underway this Thursday, but Meeke found his test curtailed when he rolled his C3 WRC, although his car was undamaged. As the day’s running was set to conclude anyway, it was decided not to resume the test.
Meeke’s crash came off the back of team-mate Craig Breen’s crash the previous day that left his car with damage to the rear of his car, leaving Citroen with far from ideal preparations heading into the event.
For Meeke, the only saving grace was that the crash did take place during testing and not during the rally itself, especially after the Northern Irishman failed to score points during the opening round of the championship in Monte Carlo.
“It was my mistake,” said Meeke to 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.”
