Valtteri Bottas matched WRC winner Kris Meeke’s time in test last month

Towards the end of last month Bottas was given permission from Mercedes to go and try out Toyota’s WRC car in his home country between the British and German Grand Prix’s.
 
The Finn had entered his first rally event during the winter break and claims it “feels good” and is “always going to be a benefit.”

Five-time rally winner Meeke had been on the same stage that Bottas before and the Finn revealed that his pace was the same as his and loves the feeling of not having pressure in the car.

Bottas said to Crash.net: “I think they were happy. By the end of the day I managed to be on the same pace as Kris Meeke, who had been sometime earlier on that same stage.

“That was quite encouraging for a first day in gravel.

“It's completely different.

“New experiences always feel amazing. Obviously I would imagine if you do rally all the time, for sure you kind of get used to it.

“When you try something else, it feels very cool and new.

“This kind of [rally] thing, you go there and have fun with no people around, not a single kind of pressure from outside or from yourself.”