Category: Citroen

Sebastien Loeb and Daniel Elena have added to their remarkable record with victory in Rally Argentina on the weekend. It is their seventh consecutive win in the event and their 70th WRC win overall.

The Citroën master pairing finished 15.2 seconds ahead of their teammate Mikko Hirvonen. The one-two result gives the French team a healthy 45 point lead from Ford in the manufacturers’ title race.

Although it is worth noting that half way through Day 2, when the Citroëns held a safe lead back to third place of around 90 seconds it was decided the leading pair should hold station. “I spoke to both the crews and they agreed that it was the best solution,” explained Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal.

Ford driver Mads Osteberg took the final podium step, over three minutes behind Loeb. Stand-in driver Ford Dani Sordo was on track for fourth place until he stopped and withdrew from the rally on the very last stage.

Loeb’s third win for the year puts him on 91 points in the drivers’ championship, ahead of Petter Solberg (73) and Hirvonen (70).

After the event Loeb summed up his feelings, saying: “It’s great to get back to winning ways after drawing a blank in Portugal. Everything went really well this weekend. Although the first few stages didn’t go quite how we’d have liked, we stayed calm and in the end we were able to take control of the race.”

Meanwhile, Hirvonen had this to say: “This result is perfect for the team and the twenty points I scored this weekend take me back up to third in the overall standings. I have made further progress in my understanding of the DS3 WRC and I can’t wait to compete in the coming rallies!”

The WRC now returns to Europe for the Acropolis Rally at the end of May.

Ford driver Mads Ostberg can finally step up on a makeshift podium in his lounge room and celebrate his Rally Portugal win after Citroën decided not to appeal Mikko Hirvonen’s disqualification from the event.

In post-race scrutineering officials found irregularities with the clutch and turbo in Hirvonen’s DS3 WRC. Citroën claim there were no performance benefits and that, “It was never our intention to cheat.”

A full statement from Citroën Racing can be read after the break.

Almost as soon as the e-ink had dried on our WRC article informing of Mikko Hirvonen’s win at Rally Portugal word arrived informing he had been disqualified from the event; now we know why the official results have been slow to update.

In post-race scrutineering officials found Hirvonen’s Citroën DS3 WRC had differences between the homologation sheet and the clutch and the turbocharger. A statement from Citroën can be read in full after the break.

“We had no intention whatsoever to cheat and the decision appears out of proportion,” claimed Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal.

“Given the fact that the reported differences didn’t bring us any advantage, we’ve decided to appeal.

“At the moment, most of all I feel sorry for Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, who produced a superb performance on a particularly difficult rally. They really deserved their first win with us.

“All I can do, on behalf of the entire team, is offer my sincere apologies for this situation. I hope that Mikko and Jarmo will have the chance to top the podium again very soon. ”

The changes in final classification mean the win is handed to Ford Fiesta WRC driver Mads Ostberg, his first ever WRC victory. Although, with Citroën’s announcement that they will be appealing the decision, we dare say Ostberg won’t be popping any champagne corks just yet.

It’s always a shame when race wins are fought out between teams and officials well after the cars have crossed the finish line.

Finnish driver pairing Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen won the 2012 Rally Portugal on the weekend. It was their 15th career win and their first since joining the Citroën World Rally Team in the off-season.

It’s unusual, it seems, not be reporting on another Sebastien Loeb victory. It’s even more unusual due to the fact the eight-time world champion crashed out early on the first day.

“We came to a crest which started with a short left-hand turn followed by a longer right-hand turn. Daniel gave me the right pace note, but I continued to turn to the left,” Loeb explained. “I tried to correct, but my DS3 WRC skidded into a big ditch and we were thrown into a roll. The damage wasn‘t that too bad… except for the roll cage, which did its job and ended up bent.”

Hirvonen had a battle with the Ford Fiestas of Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg on day one and emerged on top with a 30 second lead. He wasn’t challenged from that point on and won the event by almost two minutes.

“I am very proud of this result, and it’s just rewards for the work done by the team in the last few months,” Hirvonen said after the rally. “This win means I now lead the Drivers’ Championship, but it also means that Citroën extends its lead in the Manufacturers’ standings.

“It was quite a strange rally, the way worked it out, because I haven’t had to push hard since Friday. We managed to control from the front pretty easily, and just kept increasing our lead.”

For some reason the official WRC championship leaderboard hasn’t updated with the Portugal results, but Hirvonen now sits atop the table with 75 points, ahead of Loeb (66) and Solberg (59). Citroën holds a comfortable 42 point lead over the Ford World Rally Team in the manufacturers’ title.

There’s more from Citroën after the break, including a brief highlights video. Rally Argentina is the next event on the WRC calendar and will take place at the end of the month.

UPDATE: Word has just come through that Hirvonen has had his win stripped due to homologation irregularities concerning the clutch and the turbocharger. Full statement to follow.

Sebastien Loeb has come away from Rally Mexico singing Two out of three ain’t bad after notching up his second win of the 2012 WRC season. A shade over 42 seconds behind was his new teammate Mikko Hirvonen, making this the first one-two for Citroën in the Loeb–Hirvonen era. We get the feeling it won’t be the last. Petter Solberg (Ford) was a distant 2:11.4 back in third place.

Speaking after the rally Loeb said, “This season has started in very typical fashion: a win at Monte-Carlo, an average result in Sweden and a win in Mexico. Let’s hope the rest of the season also goes the same way as in previous years.”

It was the 69th career win for Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena. That’s astonishing really, surely they must be considered the best the sport has ever seen.

“It really has been a perfect weekend. I know this 69th win means a lot to Daniel. The rally was very difficult, I had to push really hard to shake off Mikko. Once I’d built up a bit of gap, I was able to control the race a bit more, but I stayed alert nonetheless. There is always a chance of spinning or picking up a puncture, which can ruin a race,” added Loeb.

He resumes his familiar position on top of the drivers’ leaderboard, ahead of Hirvonen and Solberg. Similarly, Citroën is leading the manufacturers’ championship form Ford.

WRC action returns to Europe in a couple of weeks at the Rally de Portugal (29 March–1 April).

Sebastien Loeb has opened the defence of his eighth world title in grand style with a comfortable win in the Rallye Monte Carlo. The French maestro, who turns 38 next month, and his co-driver Daniel Elena showed no signs of slowing down winning the rally by almost three minutes from Dani Sordo (MINI).

The tricky conditions, with a mixture of dry and icy roads, as well as regular snow, made tyre selection difficult. It took Loeb until SS4 to claim the lead, which he did not surrender for the remainder of the event.

Loeb explains it was tyre strategy that gave him such a comfortable winning margin, “It’s a big gap to second, but I wouldn’t say that this was an easy win. We had to deal with all sorts of conditions and my lead was largely built on better tyre choices, which were mainly down to the work of Citroën Racing’s technical team and our tyre partner Michelin.

“For the first time in a long time in WRC, we were able to choose between five types of tyres and we always managed to pick the right tyres for the circumstances.”

The 2003 world champion Petter Solberg (Ford) claimed the final podium step behind Loeb and Sordo. While Loeb’s new teammate Mikko Hirvonen finished his first rally for Citroën in fourth place.

More snow and ice will face the teams at Rally Sweden, which is the next event on the WRC calendar and starts in just under three weeks.

It doesn’t seem all that long ago we were telling you about Sebastien Loeb’s eighth world championship. But already he’s back at work testing for next month’s Monte Carlo Rally (17–22 January).

After the break we bring you two videos of the Citroën DS3 WRC in action, first it’s Loeb at the wheel, then his new teammate Mikko Hirvonen gets to find out what his new car is like to drive in the snow.

Citroën has also announced reigning Dakar champion and WRC journeyman Nasser Al-Attiyah will be joining their team from Rally Sweden. This will allow Al-Attiyah to defend his Dakar crown, although with Volkswagen now focusing on their own WRC effort he will be driving a Hummer in South America.

Also signed to Citroën on a reduced campaign is 22-year-old Belgian Thierry Neuvile, who has progressed through the ranks from the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

[Source: Speedcafe]

We bring you the rather intriguing news that Mikko Hirvonen will be racing alongside Sebastien Loeb at the Citroën WRC team in 2012. Hirvonen leaves Ford after six years with a record of 14 wins and twice being runner up to Loeb in the championship (2009 and 2011).

Hirvonen switching camps isn’t the real story here; it’s the fact there was a drive available at all. Despite being just one year into a three year deal and winning five out of his team’s 10 rallies this year Sebastien Ogier has been shown the door.

Ogier won the JWRC title for Citroën in 2008 and has been seen as the heir to Loeb’s WRC throne. Team orders reared their head at Rally Germany when a fast-charging Ogier was told ease the pressure on Loeb who held the lead. Eventually Ogier had his way winning the event after Loeb’s chances suffered at the hands of a puncture. Afterwards Ogier expressed his dissatisfaction by stating, “At least there is some justice in the sport.”

It’s not clear where Ogier will be going in 2012 but we expect Volkswagen will take a keen interest and may choose to secure the French ace for their 2013 assault. Ford, obviously, looms as a possible destination for Ogier and you can bet he would love nothing more than to knock off Loeb and Citroën for the blue oval.

Citroën’s official press release can be read after the break.