Kris Meeke Stood Down for Poland

Kris Meeke has been dropped from the Citroen WRC Team for the next Championship round in Poland following his troubled start to a year in which he was supposed to lead Citroen's title bid on its much publicised factory WRC return. Meekes place in the team for this one rally has been taken by Andreas Mikkelsen.

Though he won in Mexico, Meekes roll while leading in Italy this weekend, followed incidents in Monte Carlo, Sweden and Argentina earlier in the year and co-driver Paul Nagle have just 27 points - 25 for the Mexico win and two for powerstage points from Sweden - leaving them 10th in the standings, 114 points behind leader Sebastien Ogier and 16 points behind team-mate Craig Breen.

"After a series of disappointing results, we have asked Kris Meeke to take a step back for this next rally," said Citroen team principal Yves Matton. "Kris accepted that this would be in the best interests of the team and we'd like to thank him for his understanding. This break will give him the chance to recharge his batteries and release some of the pressure before preparing for Rally Finland. He won in Finland last year after producing a perfect performance, so we hope he'll come back stronger."

Matton also said the reshuffle was a chance for the team to continue working with Mikkelsen.

Mikkelsen was the only one of Volkswagen's 2016 drivers unable to find a '17 WRC seat when VW departed, meaning he began the year with Skoda in WRC2. He made his debut for Citroen in Italy, replacing Stephane Lefebvre, alongside Meeke and Breen, although a puncture and difficulty in adapting to the C3 left him eighth overall.

14th June, 2017