Kris Meeke recovered from surgery in time and secured a stunning victory – “It allowed me to drive!”

Meeke, who switched to Toyota’s Rally2 car for this season, claimed victory in the opening round of the Portuguese rally championship with a margin of over half a minute ahead of another former WRC star, Dani Sordo.

Having won the Portuguese rally championship last season, Meeke was able to manage his lead during Saturday’s final loop in challenging conditions.

After the race, Meeke revealed that it was a close call whether he would be fit in time for the opening round due to knee surgery.

“So, just four weeks before arriving in Portugal, I had an ACL reconstruction surgery after a small fall doing some flat track moto. Time was tight, but thanks to the guys at Ortema, who got me sorted with a bespoke brace – a 3D scan of the leg and a made-to-measure carbon/titanium brace allowed me to compete,” Meeke wrote.

“Still a lot of recovery ahead, but huge thanks to all who helped through this short time to allow me to drive this weekend.”

Latvian rally star Martins Sesks saw his race with Past Racing’s Ford Fiesta Rally2 come to an early end during Saturday morning’s loop. Sesks reported an issue with the power steering, which ultimately forced him to retire.

After Friday’s leg, Sesks was in second place, just 4.8 seconds behind Meeke. On Saturday morning, he briefly took the lead, but by the time he retired on the seventh special stage, his gap had already stretched to 40 seconds. However, Sordo was still far behind the Latvian.

“It only took one stage for the lead to turn into retirement due to a power steering failure. We did our best and will definitely come back stronger. It was a pleasure to race against Kris and Dani,” Sesks commented on social media.

Rally Serras de Fafe, results: