Irish rallying has received another major boost with Citroen Racing announcing that experienced Northern Ireland driver Kris Meeke will be joining its title-winning Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team for the 2014 FIA World Rally Championship. It is fantastic news that Meeke and co-driver Paul Nagle will compete in a full WRC season with a front-running factory team.

Kris Meeke has earned himself a full-time seat with the Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team for 2014 after impressing when making a couple of guest appearances for the team in 2013

Meeke – a former protégé of the late Colin McRae – has been on the fringes of the big time for several years having won the Intercontinental Rally Challenge feeder series in 2009. The 34-year-old briefly became a member of the short-lived Mini WRC programme during 2011 and more recently, after 18 months out, made a surprise return to the WRC earlier this season with a couple of guest appearances for Citroen in Finland and Australia. On both occasions he showed some  impressive speed at the wheel of the DS3 WRC and clearly did enough to secure a full-time drive in 2014.

“It’s an incredible opportunity,” admitted a delighted Meeke. “I’m really lucky to be able to work with a team that has so much experience and so many titles. I think I’ve got some potential, but I still need to get some experience under my belt. The Citroën DS3 WRC is a terrific car and I’m going to be able to use the team’s knowledge to help me improve. I know that I’ll have to be patient in the first half of the season and learn all about the rallies that I haven’t done before.”