Kris Meeke could be on the verge of joining Subaru as their test and
development driver.
Richard Taylor, managing director of Subaru World Rally Team, has confirmed
Meeke has been shortlisted for the job of developing the new Impreza S14
which should appear next year.
"Kris is one of the people we are speaking to," said Taylor. "
We need somebody with a good mixture of World championship experience and
good pace. Not a lot of people fit that bill but Kris is one of them."
Meeke, who will drive a Subaru S12 on Rally Ireland next month, admits he
has spoken to Subaru and has visited their headquarters at Banbury recently,
but will say nothing more for the moment.
The role of test driver with Subaru could be an important step. He would be
tasked with developing the all-new car over the next nine months in
conjunction with former World champion Petter Solberg and the Subaru
engineers.
And he is ideally suited. A mechanical engineering graduate from Queen's
University, Meeke initially worked for the Ford World championship team at
M-Sport in Cumbria before branching out as a driver.
During his time at Citroen he played a major part in developing their C2
JWRC car and is still called on by Citroen and their satellite teams in
various parts of Europe to coach their drivers and help set up their C2s.
He also played a part in developing the C4 as currently driven by World
champion Sebastien Loeb and is highly regarded by the Citroen engineers.
Just the sort of driver, in fact, to help Subaru regain their former supreme
place in World championship rallying.
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