Meeke joins German Baja event

The 24-26 July event, masterminded by former world rally-winning driver Armin Schwarz, will showcase rally drivers competing against Baja drivers and motocross riders. Joining Meeke on the entry list are WRC stars Petter Solberg, Gigi Galli and Nasser Al-Attiyah.

A two-mile stage in Lausitz has been constructed to offer side-by-side racing with some of the biggest jumps and longest drifts in world motorsport.

In addition to the rally drivers, some of America's finest Baja racers will pit their 900bhp Trophy Trucks against the rally cars and motocross bikes. Former Formula 1 driver and Indianapolis 500 winner Danny Sullivan tops the list, with Jesse James and BJ Baldwin in close attendance.

Meeke will drive a Peugeot 207 S2000 similar to the one he has used to win the last three rounds of the IRC.

"Armin didn't have to twist my arm at all to do this event," said Meeke. "It looks like it's going to be awesome. Having seen Jesse James' machine in action at the [Goodwood] Festival of Speed, it's going to be pretty special to go up against these things in our rally cars. I'm really looking forward to it."

Meeke added that he was also keen on tackling one of the American Baja events in the next couple of years.

"I love everything about the Baja scene," he said. "There's such a sense of adventure in doing those kind of events. Right now I'm focused on rallying and nothing will detract from that, but Baja is certainly something on my radar - and I suspect Armin's event is only going to strengthen that. He promised me a ride in one of the Trophy Trucks and I'll be holding him to that!"

Schwarz added: "It's great that we have Kris coming. We now have the leader of the IRC and the leader of the Production WRC with Nasser and on top of that we've got two of the biggest characters in world rallying with Petter and Gigi. It's going to be an incredible weekend of sport."