Kris Meeke: being dropped from Citroen squad shows lack of support

Citroen replaced Meeke with Andreas Mikkelsen for Rally Poland following crashes in the preceding three events.

Meeke returns for Rally Finland this weekend but says the situation means he lacks the confidence to repeat his win there last year.

"It's a frustrating and difficult situation," he said.

"It's certainly not a situation I expected, but it is what it is.

"I'm happy be back in Finland, but it's frustrating to arrive here with the feeling we have now.

"To fight at the front on this rally, you need to arrive with absolutely no doubt in anything around you, to have pure commitment and to do what you want to do and I think it's fair to say that's not the case this year.

"I don't feel in the perfect environment to go and do what I did last year, but that's not to say one kilometre into the shakedown stage, that feeling won't come."

Asked if he felt supported in the Citroen team, Meeke replied: "If you're dropped for an event then there are certain people in the structure that don't give you the support.

"That's fine, I'm here working for Citroen. If they feel I'm not doing a good enough job and they want to do what they done, then that's fine, I'll go with it.

"I'll continue to do what I'm here to do to the best of my ability."

He added that "horrendous" weather for his pre-rally test had not helped.

"We had really, really heavy rain on both days and that made conditions so inconsistent and so difficult to get the feeling in the car," said Meeke.

"Maybe that's what's causing my lack of confidence."

Meeke said he had received "no instruction" from Citroen on how to approach this week's rally and would not drive conservatively.

"I'm not here to come home in the top 10, shake everybody's hand and go home with everybody thinking I'm happy," he said.

Citroen team principal Yves Matton said it was "very good" to have Meeke back.

"He won here last year and we know Kris is always at a high pace on this kind of event," Matton told Autosport.

"There is no target for Kris this week. "It's up to him to do the best he can to bring back the best information for the future."

Asked if he would prefer Meeke to crash out of the lead on Sunday morning or come home fifth, Matton replied: "Both would be bad... I would prefer for him to be leading on Saturday night and then finish on the podium, but I don't say where."