Rally Turkey: Northern Ireland man Kris Meeke finishes seventh in WRC event

  • Published
Kris Meeke and Seb Marshall at Rally TurkeyImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Kris Meeke and co-driver Seb Marshall are now fifth in the World Rally Championship standings

Kris Meeke finished in his overnight position of seventh at Rally Turkey as Sebastien Ogier clinched victory.

Northern Irishman Meeke avoided mishaps on the final day as he finished three minutes and 53.3 seconds off the pace.

With Norway's Andreas Mikkelsen third behind world champion Ogier and Citroen team-mate Esapekka Lappi, Meeke drops to fifth in the world championship.

Meeke has 86 points - eight behind Mikkelsen and two ahead of Finland's Jari-Matti Latvala.

The Northern Irishman's puncture late in Saturday's action saw him dropping well behind his sixth-placed Toyota team-mate Latvala who was 54.2 seconds ahead of Meeke at the finish.

Six-time world champion Ogier's win cut Ott Tanak's world championship lead to 17 points with Belgium's Thierry Neuville also still on the fringes of contention for the title.

Tanak, who also competes for Meeke's Toyota team, was forced out of contention by a technical problem on Saturday although he returned to action on Sunday as he won the concluding power stage.

Meeke's remaining target for the season will be attempt to finish fourth in the championship with Latvala, Teemu Suninen, Lappi, Britain's Elfyn Evans and Dani Sordo also within striking distance of Hyundai's Mikkelsen.

The series continues in Wales in the first weekend of October with three further rounds taking place before the end of the 2019 campaign.