With the Kris Meeke vs Dani Sordo reunion fight dominating the headlines ahead of the new Portuguese season, it wasn’t supposed to be so clear-cut.
A 32.3-second margin between the pair wasn’t forecast. It was a winning performance that didn’t need the context to be appreciated.
But Meeke dominated Rally Serras de Fafe – and he dominated in some of the worst conditions he’s ever seen while on his first time out in a new car: Toyota’s GR Yaris Rally2.
And then came the bombshell: the Portuguese champion was driving just four weeks after surgery on his ACL.
After what he described in a post-rally social media post as a “small fall” doing some flat track moto, Meeke’s leg was 3D scanned and a bespoke brace was made to measure to allow him to compete.
Meeke came out on top despite competing with a bespoke brace after surgery
On a weekend where Esapekka Lappi sent a similar message to his Finnish championship rivals with a strong win, first time out in the RS version of Škoda’s Fabia Rally2, Meeke dangled a carrot in front of Sordo and the others.
Catch him if you can.
“The car is fantastic,” Meeke smiled, “honestly from the very first kilometer of the test I enjoyed.”
But…
“When we saw the weather forecast for the weekend, it got very, very complicated and honestly it’s some of the trickiest conditions I’ve ever driven in.
“The second pass on some of the stages was… bwoah, unbelievably slippery and muddy. But happy with the performance. Stuart [Loudon] my co-driver did a top job, all my mechanics, my engineers, and big thanks to Ze Pedro Fontes for putting everything together.
“The Portuguese championship now with Dani Sordo here, myself, Armindo [Araújo], [Ricardo] Teodósio… it’s a really nice place. And Mārtiņš Sesks obviously had good speed this weekend too.
“But yeah, a challenging weekend but I’m happy to come out on top. See you with more sunshine in Algarve!”
Meeke is already a big fan of the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 he's switched to this season
We’ll see at the end of the month if Meeke’s weather dance is as strong as his driving. But the interloping performance of Sesks – out in a Past Racing Ford Fiesta Rally2 as prep for his Rally1 appearance in Portugal later this year – caused Meeke a few headaches in Fafe.
The man some refer to as ‘the Latvian livewire’ was Meeke’s chaser-in-chief after Friday’s three stages – lying just 4.8s off the Briton’s lead.
Back-to-back stage wins on Saturday’s first pair of stages really threatened an upset as the M-Sport driver moved into a scant 0.1s lead.
But that’s as good as it got for Sesks – the power-steering pump broke aboard his Fiesta and he was out.
Sesks fought hard but mechanical drama ruled him out of the contest
That promoted Sordo up to second, but the Spaniard was already over half a minute down on his good friend Meeke.
In awful stormy conditions, where the ruts formed on the road were filling with water, Meeke continued to pull ahead over the final loop, but Sordo produced his usual magic over the famed Fafe stretch of road to win the powerstage by an impressive 17.9s.
Almost the second Sordo clambered out of his Hyundai i20 N Rally2 at the finish control, Meeke pounced on him as the two debriefed what they’d just experienced.
Noticing the cameras, Meeke ushered them into a pose. Fierce rivals Meeke and Sordo will always be, but they’re friends first.
Sordo and Meeke embrace each other at the end of a tough rally
Recognizing the enormity of the moment as they rose each others’ arms aloft, Meeke grinned: “It’s just like the photograph from 20 years ago!”
Sordo won the battle back in 2005 when they were both driving Citroëns in the Junior WRC. Saturday proved that the three-time WRC winner has a big job on his hands to replicate the same feat in Rally2 cars in Portugal.
“Honestly, it was a really difficult rally to start the season,” Sordo confessed.
“But we finished second, we managed to improve some things on the car which is very important for us and for the team, and I’m sure for the next rally we will be more ready.
“This is also our target here in Portugal: to make the car a little bit faster and to make new things, but the conditions were really, really difficult – all the stages were really muddy and rainy all the time.
“I hope the weather will be better in Algarve and we can take the big trophy!”
Sordo splashed his way to second, praying for better weather at round two
