Kris Meeke and long-time co-driver Paul Nagle have been announced alongside the pairing of Mads Østberg and Jonas Andersson as Citroen Racing's 2014 World Rally Championship contingent.
The Dungannon native has a long time association with Citroen having first piloted a C2 Super 1600 in the Junior WRC and even has full WRC experience under his belt, first with the ill-fated MINI team and last year in the DS3 WRC car that he will pilot for the 2014 programme. In joining Citroen Meeke becomes the first British driver to race a full WRC season since Colin McRae.
"It's an incredible opportunity," said a delighted Meeke. "I've always been close to Citroen over the last few years. I'm really lucky to be able to work with a team that has so much experience and so many titles."
"I have only competed in ten World Championship rallies in a WRC," Meeke added. "I think I've got some potential, but I still need to get some experience under my belt. The Citroen 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."
Anything else?
Staying within the realms of motorsport, the FIA this week published the regulations for the 2014 Formula 1 season. Alongside a move to turbocharged 1.6-litre engines comes a budget cap for teams, the introduction of permanent driver numbers (think Valentino Rossi's number 46 in MotoGP) and most contentiously the awarding of double points for the final round of the season. This is meant to ensure that all teams continue competing until the death rather than giving up and concentrating on next year's car, but it does undermine the results of preceding races and will likely mean that Sebastian Vettel will just win the championship by even more points than before.