JWRC: Meeke prepares for new season.

Britain's Krie Meeke completed a three-day tarmac test in the South of France recently, in preparation for the upcoming Junior World Rally Championship events in Spain and Corsica, both of which will be run on asphalt.

Meeke, who finished third overall in the JWRC last year, will again use the Citroen C2 Super 1600 this season, although it will be run by PH Sport, as opposed to Kronos who looked after the programme for Citroen in 2005.

According to Meeke's personal website he managed over 300 kilometres and made 'good progress' with the car.

"It's good to get back in the car," he told www.krismeeke.com. "We covered over 300 kms and the feeling was instantly good. There are good performance modifications in the pipeline, and once again, the reliability of the C2 was very evident. With the change in tyre supplier for the JWRC, there is quite a bit of work to be done to maximise the performance of the chassis."

Meeke, who visited the Swedish Rally last weekend, the second round in the WRC, has also confirmed that he will again enjoy the support of Red Bull this year as he goes for 'gold' in the JWRC - his third assault on the Junior series.

"I am proud to have the continued support of Red Bull," he added. "This is the second year of the partnership. To have such an international and progressive sponsor is great. Hopefully we can both have continued success in 2006."

Meeke did not take part in the Swedish Rally, even though it was part of the Junior series, namely because there are nine JWRC events this season, and competitors can only nominate six to score points on. Like his Citroen C2 team-mate, Daniel Sordo, who is the reigning Junior champion, neither elected to include Sweden in their JWRC programme.