Category: Citroen

Dani Sordo ended the 2011 WRC season with great hope. The MINI Countryman JCW WRC had shown massive potential, including two podium finishes in a reduced program. That hope continued with a second place in the 2012 season opener at Monte Carlo. And then BMW dropped a bombshell, withdrawing its factory support from Prodrive, and ultimately leaving the WRC altogether. That meant 2012, a year which promised so much, ended up delivering little more than misery for the likable Sordo.

We’re pleased to report things are now looking up for the 29-year-old Spaniard thanks to a new deal which will see him back at Citroën Racing, where he plied his trade from 2005–10.

With WRC legend Sebastian Loeb taking a backward seat in 2013, Sordo will fill the void alongside new team leader Mikko Hirvonen.

Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal explains: “We took our time in assessing the potential of the drivers available to line up alongside Mikko Hirvonen next season.

“Dani is very well liked in the team and it’s a pleasure for everyone to see him return to the ‘family’. His profile complements Mikko’s in many aspects and it was important for Citroën to have a Latin driver for the Southern Europe and Latin American markets.”

Of course, Sordo is just happy to have some certainty back in his day job: “Obviously, I’m very pleased to rejoin a team with which I share so many good memories. This was my no.1 choice for 2013.

“The last few years have been good for me. In another team, I got to grips with different working methods and I took on more responsibility in the car development process. I see this return to Citroën as a great opportunity. I am still looking for my first win in WRC and I am determined to secure it next season!”

[Source: Citroën Racing]

After securing his ninth world rally crown Sebastien Loeb proved he is both human and a good sport by crashing out of 2012 Rally Italia Sardegna and letting someone else have a turn on the podium’s top step.

And yet, it was still a Citroën DS3 WRC which dominated the event as Mikko Hirvonen took the lead after special stage 3 and didn’t relinquish it for the remainder of the event.

Although, it was almost a case of last man standing with both lead Ford drivers making mistakes leaving their second-string M-Sport counterparts Evgeny Novikov and Ott Tanak to take out the minor placings.

Hirvonen was very pleased to have claimed his breakthrough win with the all-conquring Citroën World Rally Team. “I’m really very happy with this result for my first season with Citroën. I have finished on the podium many times since February, but I was beginning to grow irritated at not finishing on the top step!” he said.

“I’ve done a lot of work with my engineer in the last few weeks and I feel that I am continuing to make steady progress. I can’t wait to be in Spain to finish the season in style!”

Meanwhile, Citroën team boss, Yves Matton already has eyes on the future, hopeful we’re witnessing the start of a new era. “This first win for Mikko and Jarmo with Citroën was one of our goals for the end of the season,” said Matton. “We felt that we owed them something after the Rally de Portugal and so it’s immensely pleasing to see them win here. This result wasn’t served up for them on a plate. They had to adopt a very high level of performance from the very start and the other leading crews made mistakes when fighting with them for the lead.

“After winning the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles at the Rallye de France, we have now added the final feather to our cap with the World  Championship runner-up spot for Mikko. There’s only one more step for him to take in his career and we’ll be trying very hard to help him achieve that in 2013!”

A brief video showcasing Hirvonen’s win can be seen after the break.

[Source: Citroën Racing]

Today the sporting world is rightly in awe at the achievements of Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, who are now nine time world rally champions. Remarkably, they’ve reached their insurmountable tally in an unbroken sequence which began in 2004. Simply, it is a remarkable effort that, at this point in time, seems impossible to repeat, let alone better.

With two rallies still to race, it is fitting that title number nine was secured thanks to a 15.5 second win over Ford’s Jari-Matti Latvala in Loeb’s home event, the Rallye de Francc Alsace.

Helping to claim Citroën’s highly impressive eighth manufacturer’s title was Mikko Hirvonen coming home in third place. With Loeb set to take on a reduced program in 2013, Hirvonen will be looking forward to spearheading Citroën’s defence. Although, what chance of Loeb defending his own title while completing only three quarters of the events?

After the break we have a short video from Citroën Racing. It sets the tone really well, and never mind if you can’t speak French, we reckon you’ll appreciate the enormity of what has been achieved.

WRC’s own Sunday wrap video can be seen HERE and we should also point out that Chris Atkinson was the first MINI home, finishing in eighth place.

[Source: Citroën Racing]

UPDATE 9 October: Four new pics added below.

Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena have just claimed victory in Rallye de France and in doing so have collected their ninth World Rally Championship title. It’s a quite an astonishing record, really. Loeb’s win today also wraps up the 2012 constructors’ title for Citroën, their eighth world title.

We’ll be back later today when Citroën updates us with their official post-race update. In the meantime ponder this question: is Loeb the best racer ever, in any discipline?

That’s what Prodrive claimed when they tweeted their congratulations to Loeb: “Well done to Seb Loeb, amazing achievement, which will never be repeated. Arguably now the greatest driver of all time in any discipline.”

The world’s best rally combination of Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena will be running a partial WRC program in 2013, Citroën announced at the Paris Motor Show overnight. Loeb is fast heading towards his ninth WRC title and at 38 years of age is hoping to exit the world stage while he is on top.

It’s important to note that Citroën will be continuing with a three car team in 2013, with Mikko Hirvonen as the lead driver. However it won’t be a fully factory-backed effort.

An official statement from the Citroën World Rally Team reads: “In these tough economic times, Citroën has taken the view that it is essential for it to remain involved in motorsport in order to support its determined and energetic commercial approach. At the same time, it was equally important to find a way of reducing the Brand’s financial commitment to the team’s operating costs.”

Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal explains the team has secured a new major sponsor: “In this context, we are particularly proud to welcome Abu Dhabi on board. This partnership will provide us with the means of continuing our programme and entering three DS3 WRCs in 2013.”

Citroën also said they are considering entering the World Touring Car Championship in 2014, with Sebastien Loeb as the headline act.

[Source: citroen-wrc.com]

We normally get our Citroën World Rally Team news fed to us from a couple of sources, but since Sebastien Loeb racked up his ninth win at Rallye Deutschland on the weekend we’ve not heard a peep. So we apologise for the lateness of this update.

Of course, it’s no surprise to see Loeb out front, his win in Germany was his fifth on end and his seventh from nine rallies this year. Remarkable and a little boring at the same time.

At least there was some change on the second step of the podium with Jari-Matti Latvala managing to sneak his Ford Fiesta WRC in ahead of Citroën’s Mikko Hirvonen.

With four races to go Loeb’s championship lead is 54 points. So it’s still mathematically possible for second placed Hirvonen could overtake the French legend, but we all know it’s not going to happen.

With no pics for you from this rally we bring you a brief highlights video from Citroën, which comes with the following note:

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena bettered their own impressive record for the most wins at a single event in securing a ninth victory in Germany. The entire team was moved in remembering Philippe Bugalski, who died accidentally a few days ago. In 2001, ‘Bug’ had won the Germany Rally—just before it became part of the WRC calenda—in a Xsara T4. Jean-Paul Chiaroni, his then co-driver and now weather and reconnaissance coordinator for Citroën Racing, stepped onto the podium to receive the cup awarded to the winning manufacturer of the rally.

UPDATE: Citroën’s official team statement has come through and can be read after the break.

Another WRC event, another one-two result for Citroën. This time it was Rally Finland and for the fourth race in succession we saw Sebastien Loeb finish first, with teammate Mikko Hirvonen close behind in second place.

After the rally Loeb said he was very happy to secure his third Rally Finland trophy. “I am really pleased to have clinched this third win here against a competitor as tenacious as Mikko,” said Sébastien Loeb. “It’s especially pleasing to have led the rally from start to finish. We pushed a lot, sometimes driving close to the limit. To drive like that, you need to have a car which you have total faith. The upgrades made this weekend to the DS3 WRC, especially on the shock absorbers, enabled us to move up another notch in terms of performance and how easy the car was to drive.”

Loeb, now on 171 points, extends his lead in the drivers’ championship to 43 points over Hirvonen (128). Petter Solberg (104) is third, a further 24 points behind. Unsurprisingly, Citroën is miles ahead in the constructors’ title—109 points ahead of Ford—and can probably start celebrating another win.

Citroën Australia provides the Rally Finland recap for you after the break, and includes updates on Australians Chris Atkinson, driving for the Qatar World Rally Team, and Molly Taylor, United Business/BP Rally Team. Both showed moments of promise before succumbing to accident and mechanical damage respectively.

Next up on the WRC calendar is Rallye Deutschland (24–26 August).

Sebastien Loeb and Mikko Hirvonen completed a dominant 1-2 rally win for the Citroën World Rally Team in Rally New Zealand on the weekend. There was a minor fight with Ford’s Jarri-Matti Latvala on the opening day, but the rally soon became the plaything of the unstoppable Citroëns.

At least this time Loeb and Hirvonen were able to fight freely for the win. Mostly, after a good battle on day two, the team asked their two drivers to concentrate on the double podium in the closing stages of the event. With that came Loeb’s fifth win of the year and an ever tightening grip on the driver’s championship.

The eight-time world champion now has 145pts, which puts him 38pts clear of Hirvonen, with Solberg 55pts behind the leader. Unsurprisingly, with a 96pt lead over Ford, Citroën appears unbeatable in the manufacturers’ title race.

Speaking after the rally Loeb said he’s looking forward to a well earned rest: “We had to hold out to the end after an exciting two-day battle with Mikko. Once again, conditions were difficult but we managed to secure a one-two finish. I’m very pleased that I can go on holiday now with a comfortable lead in the championship! It’s true that the first half of the season has been fantastic, with five wins out of seven rallies.”

For his part, Hirvonen is ready to building on a steady opening to his Citroën career: “This is another good result for the team; it concludes the first part of the season, during which I have learned a lot. I am pleased with how the first seven rallies have gone. I have been fighting for the win a regular basis, and that feels good. I now have a fine collection of runner-up spots, so I’ll be going into the second half of the season hoping to claim some wins.”

The WRC goes into hiatus for all of July and returns for Rally Finland in August.

A lengthy press release from Citroën can be read after the break and is complemented by over 25 pictures from Rally New Zealand. We thank Ateco Automotive for access to the shots.

Citroën World Rally Team driver Mikko Hirvonen and co-driver Jarmo Lehtinen have walked away without injury following a high-speed crash on Thursday. The pair were testing their Citroën DS3 WRC racecar in Tuscany, Italy, as part of their preparation for the upcoming Rally New Zealand.

A Citroën team member explained: “Mikko rolled a lot of times, the accident was high-speed. The most important thing is that Mikko and Jarmo are both OK. They are back at the hotel tonight. The test is finished.”

Amazingly, the crash has been dramatically captured on video (see below), where the person filming was just metres away when Hirvonen left the road causing his car to rollover a number of times.

[Source: Eurosport]

The unstoppable Sebastien Loeb has proved that once again after he won the 2012 Acropolis Rally by 40 seconds from his Citroën teammate Mikko Hirvonen.

While the end result makes it look like it was a dominant weekend for the Citroën team, that wasn’t really the case. Loeb started the final day just 10 seconds ahead of Ford driver Petter Solberg and a battle for the win loomed. However, Solberg, needing to apply the pressure, made an error and crashed out on the day’s opening stage. So, later in the day on SS20 when Loeb was slowed by a puncture he was able to remain reasonably calm.

Hirvonen had settled for third place in his mind, but was promoted to second place after Solberg’s retirement. It’s the third one-two victory for the Citroën team this year and it’s no surprise to see they enjoy a 73pt lead in the manufacturers’ championship.

Meanwhile, Loeb’s fourth win of the year has helped him to a 30pt lead over Hirvonen in the race for the drivers’ title. Incredibly, the win in Greece is Loeb’s 71st career victory in the WRC.

“We managed this race well, despite the constant pressure we were put under by our rivals,” said Loeb. “I never lost my cool at any point, even when we got a puncture, because I knew we would still have enough of a lead.”

You can read Citroën’s official account of the Acropolis Rally below. The WRC heads south for its next event, Rally New Zealand on 22–24 June.