Colin McRae prot?g? Kris Meeke underlined his potential by scoring Junior World Rally Championship points on his debut with the Citroen C2, at one sta☂ge challenging for a podium position before battling back to sixth after a puncture delayed his initial progress.

The McRae Motorsport driver quickly adapted to his all-new car, which he had not had the opportunity to test until the shakedown stage of Rallye Catalunya. Gradually sorting the Kronos Racing-run car's set-up to suit his style and the championship's Pirelli tyres, Meeke upped his pace throughout the event, climbing to fourth by early on the third day, before suffering a cruel blow when a tyre punctured in a f൩ifth-gear corner, sending him straight on at the next sharp-left turn.

"ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚIn total, four JWRC cars suffered punctures at the same corner," the 25-year old revealed, "The tyre deflated immediately, and that caused us to be pitched off the road under braking. We went through a fence and ended up in a field. By the time we had got back on th𝓀e road and managed to change the wheel, we'd dropped over four minutes.

"It's very frustrating to have missed out on such a potentially good result. The work we had done to the set-up of the car was really ꦫpaying dividends, and we were on the pace of the works Suzukis and close to the pace-setting Renaults. We were just learning so much, and it would have been꧅ nice to have repaid the team with a decent podium finish."

Battling on, Meeke eventually secured the C2's first points finish in the Junior World Rall♌y Championship by finishing sixth in the JW♉RC class.

"I've greatly 𓄧enjoyed working with, and learning from, Kronos Racing, whi🌞ch must be one of the most efficient teams around," he said, "I can't praise their professionalism enough."

The three points scored promoted Meeke to seventh in the end-of-year JWRC standings, and his ten fastest stage times during the season made him comfortably the most successful non-factory supported driver in the championship, despite mechanical problems hampering his prꦜogress on several events throughout the season.

"I've always known that I have the speed, but getting consistent results has proved elusi🤪ve this year," he admitted, "McRae Motorsport are working hard to provide the right package for 2005 in order that I have the opportunity to add to my ♌experience and continue to progress my career to the highest level."

Meeke is being talked about as a potential member of Skoda's WRC squad next year, with McRae known to have discussed such a role with the Czech team on several occasions. The Scot tested the Fabia WRC in Spain ahead of last weekend's ⭕event, adding further weight to the speculation.