In the world of motorsport the World Rally Championship reigns supreme as the event with the most unbelievable crashes and saves. While I don’t want to diminish touring car racing’s ability to mix it up or Formula One’s high-speed, explosive launching of cars, WRC is the only sport that routinely has drivers flying off the track and through obstacles only to return and finish the race — often missing a tire and half of their vehicle’s bodywork.
On the final stage of Rally Mexico, Citroën’s Kris Meeke hit an unexpected bump and took a Sunday drive off the course and into a parking lot, destroying the rear end of a Volkswagen in the process. After avoiding a group of bystanders, he then proceeded to fling the car around some of the most willy-nilly parking I’ve ever seen, return to the track, and win the race by a sizable margin.
Thankfully, the VW CC clipped by the Citroën C3 was one of only a handful of cars that seemed to be parked correctly. Had it been left even a foot to the right, Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle would have found themselves inside the trunk. After the race, Meeke announced to television cameras, “I’m a lucky boy. I’m a lucky, lucky, boy.”
Luck had nothing to do with the fancy footwork after going off course, though. Even after that major setback and puncturing a tire, the C3 finished 13.8 seconds ahead of WRC legend Sébastien Ogier. The two men had no idea. After crossing the finish line, an understandably flustered Nagle told Meeke “We lost it,” before seeing their official posted time.
Although, let’s not kid ourselves, Sébastien will probably still take the championship for a fifth consecutive year.
[Image: World Rally Championship]
Well that is one spectacular Citroen. Race appeared to be out of the Dukes of Hazzard
Rally drivers are the best! F1 guys push buttons, NASCAR guys turn left. Big deal. Rally drivers are on a whole different level: constantly changing surfaces, little practice, no qualifying, jumps, hairpin turns, blind corners, mud and gravel. Just insane… serious respect for their skill set.
JMII – agreed.
Great Kerry accent on his co-driver
This kind of racing seems to be a great use for both little crampy cars and Mexican landscape.
Heh, that’s exactly how some valets park your car. :P
“Flat crest jump, and flat six left in 150. Hair line tight shot. Five eight crossover into 120 you need this tight. And line wide tightest of all. Double tighter Jesus Christ Kris oh no! How are we gonna get out of here?”*
*All words approximate.
Good demonstration of how to not roll a vehicle. He was going off the road regardless, so he just stabilized the car and accepted the new path instead of fighting it.