New European Rally champion Teemu Suninen deserves a drive in the World Rally Championship, according to Kris Meeke.
Meeke and Suninen fought for victory at last weekend’s Rali Ceredigion in Wales; Meeke eventually won the rally by 38.6 seconds after Friday night leader Suninen spun his Škoda twice.
Second place, however, was enough for Suninen to claim the 2026 European title with a round to spare.
Both Meeke and Suninen relished their fight, with Suninen inspiring a push from Meeke on Saturday afternoon after taking 5.7s out of him on the stage before service.
While 47-year-old Meeke is not treating his rallying as a fully-fledged career anymore, 32-year-old Suninen is actively trying to earn a WRC opportunity in the near future.
“Teemu’s world championship level,” Meeke told DirtFish. “For me he should be in the world championship, he’s that level. He just needs to find the right opportunity.
“It was a really nice battle here. He’s in a Škoda, I’m in the Toyota. He’s on Pirelli, I’m on Michelin. He’s a Finn, I’m from Ireland, neither of us have done this rally before in Wales and there’s only been a couple of seconds between us at points.
“Big thanks [to Teemu] for the fight. It takes two to tango.”
Suninen loved the opportunity to race Meeke, although the prospect of winning the championship left him in two minds whether to attack or not.
“It’s really an honor to drive with him,” Suninen told DirtFish. “We both enjoyed the competition.
“He’s a legend. I have been following him since 2016 from the Ouninpohja when he was the fastest with Citroën.
“The challenge I had was which do I appreciate more?” he added. “Fight with Kris or the ERC championship? But we had to be clever, I must be honest.
“Hats off for him. He did a great event.”
Suninen feels he showed the world his capabilities on Tarmac this ERC season
Suninen was pleased to have proved his pace on Tarmac throughout the ERC season, winning in Poland and finishing second in Rome and Zlìn as well as Ceredigion.
“I think it’s really important,” Suninen said. “I think a year ago people were maybe a bit doubting my Tarmac skills and now I’ve been driving most of the season on Tarmac. And yeah, I’ve been able to drive well.
“It worked out pretty well,” he added. “I must say I was quite surprised to be able to get this kind of package for this year because in the best case at the beginning of the year we were dreaming for two or three events and now we have done 12 or 13 maybe.
“I’ve been enjoying a lot the drive ERC events as all the rallies have offered really challenging roads, different type of roads. So it’s been a really good school for me and hopefully we can use these learnings for next year.”
