Dani Sordo would like to battle Kris Meeke in Rally1, as he feels his friend and rival would deserve that chance.
Sordo and Meeke’s careers have been intertwined for over two decades, beginning when they fought for the 2005 Junior WRC title as team-mates driving Citroën C2 Super 1600s.
They were later stablemates at Mini’s short-lived WRC program in 2011 and rivals through the 2010s with Meeke at Citroën and Toyota, and Sordo at current home Hyundai.
The Spaniard and Northern Irishman met again in the Portuguese national championship last year where Sordo came out on top in a last stage decider by less than a second.
Sordo has since returned to Hyundai’s World Rally Championship lineup on a part-time basis, competing at April’s Rally Islas Canarias and again at this week’s Rally Portugal.
Sordo was the quickest Hyundai on Friday in Canaries, before fading behind team-mates Adrien Fourmaux and Thierry Neuville. He credited Meeke for helping him with that strong speed following their intense battles in Rally2 cars.
“Thanks to Kris for pushing me,” he said at the end of SS6. “All year, I really pushed myself and for sure there’s a small evolution [in speed].
“Kris, I need to buy you a dinner when I arrive [home].”
Sordo then went a step further in the media zone.
“Of course, I’m here to have fun, to prove myself, to show the people that we are still competitive at some point,” he told DirtFish. “Nothing special, I just want to enjoy.
“Last year was hard in Portugal, but nice with Kris because we were fighting like hell with each other and we have really, really fun. I would like to have him here with a Rally1 car because I think he deserves it also. But yeah, this is what I want, to enjoy this second time, or last time, or whatever you want to call it.”
Meeke hasn’t driven a top-class car in the WRC since he was let go by Toyota at the end of 2019. So far this season he’s driven just one event – the Otago Rally – but won the historic class.
As for Sordo, he’s determined to enjoy his opportunity where in Portugal his “goal is clear: to bring home a good result to the team and fight for the podium at a minimum”.
“We need to enjoy this,” Sordo surmised. “For sure, I’ve been here many years, and it’s very important also to have the young drivers and talents to have the opportunity. But they’ve called me to do this this year and I will nit say no if I am still competitive I can do it, but of course I would like to see young people also coming in.”
