MOTORSPORT: Citroen drops WRC bombshell

Citroen will skip the World Rally Championship next year to concentrate on development of its new rally car for 2017, when it will quit the World Touring Car Championship.

In a bombshell announcement overnight, the like of which has been unknown in motorsport since the global financial crisis of late last decade, Citroen has severed connections with the most successful rally driver in history, Frenchman Sebastien Loeb.

It comes at a time of doubt about whether Volkswagen group brand Audi will continue in sports car racing’s World Endurance Championship in the wake of Europe’s ‘Dieselgate’ scandal, although VW is committed to staying in the WRC after three years of manufacturer and driver titles with another French driver, Sebastien Ogier.

Audi has been working on a new hybrid car for next season after being toppled from its long-time perch at the Le Mans 24-Hour this year by fellow German brand and VW group stablemate Porsche, which already has won this year’s WEC manufacturer title ahead of this weekend’s final round in Bahrain.

Loeb, the winner of a record 78 WRC events and nine straight world titles for Citroen before turning to touring car racing the past two years, has been dropped from the French manufacturer’s WTCC campaign next season.

He has accepted his fate graciously and instead will concentrate on a new role with Peugeot Sport, starting with the Dakar marathon rally in South America in January.

Citroen’s announcement has clouded the futures of its WRC drivers this year, Northern Irishman Kris Meeke – who scored his maiden win in the world championship in Argentina in April – and Norwegian Mads Ostberg.

There is speculation that the company may support a partial WRC program next year for Meeke in a DS3 with a privateer team while using him to develop its 2017 car.

Osberg could return to Ford squad M-Sport next season.
While a short-term blow to the WRC, the announcement overnight is being seen as a sign of Citroen’s long-term commitment to rallying at the expense of touring car racing.

Under the 2017 WRC rules announced four months ago rally cars will become wilder beasts – more powerful, lighter and with better, more aggressive aerodynamic bodywork, evoking memories of the wild Group B machines of the early to mid-1980s.

Maximum power from the 1.6-litre turbocharged engines will increase from 224 (300) to 283kW (380hp) via an increase in the size of turbo restrictors from 33 to 36mm. The minimum weight of the cars will drop 25kg to 1175kg.

Bigger rear wings, side skirts and extended front and rear overhangs will be allowed to boost aerodynamic advantages over donor cars.

“Rallying is a fascinating sport which tests the performance, reliability and solidity of the cars and drivers in some magnificent settings,” Citroen chief executive Linda Jackson said.

“The category is taking off again, with increasingly widespread live television coverage and the arrival of China on the calendar in 2016.

“In 2017 the appearance of a new generation of cars, which are purported to be very attractive, will coincide with our renewed involvement.

“Everything will therefore be in place for us to write a new chapter in our history.

“Given the brand’s rich heritage this challenge had to be ambitious.

“We will however be modest in our approach, gradually stepping up our objectives to the very top.”

Citroen’s sporting boss Yves Matton said the company had “never hidden our interest in the 2017 WRC regulations and the entire team is extremely motivated by this new challenge”.

“We like the freedom granted to make the cars more spectacular, but also the possibility of reusing development work done on the C-Elysee WTCC’s engine.

“With a view to managing our resources efficiently, we have decided to focus all our efforts on designing and developing our new World Rally Car. This is why Citroen will not be competing in the 2016 World Rally Championship as a works team.

“We will obviously be keeping a close eye on the WRC, both with the organisation of the FIA Junior WRC and with the WRC2 program for (another Frenchman) Quentin Gilbert, this year’s JWRC champion.”

Loeb was shocked to be dropped by Citroen, having expected to continue in the WTCC after his Dakar debut with sister company Peugeot in the new year.

Argentinian Jose Maria Lopez, the world touring car champion the past two seasons, and Frenchman Yvan Muller, a four-time world champion, will be Citroen’s only two factory C-Elysee drivers in the WTCC next season.

Loeb said: “I was surprised when I learned that I won’t move forward to defend the colours of Citroen Racing in 2016. We built this challenge in WTCC together, with the personal goal to get the drivers’ title in under three years.

“I am disappointed that the adventure stops after two years because I had the desire to go get this title. I had shown my competitiveness aboard the C-Elysee, with four wins in 2015 in particular.

“A beautiful story comes to an end, but I don’t have any regrets. On the contrary, I keep the great memories.

“Since the very beginning of the 2000s Citroen was my brand of heart. I lived incredible moments. And for that I would like to thank all the people who have given me the opportunity to live my passion on a daily basis.

“We wrote beautiful pages of the history of the brand in competition.

“Of course, all these moments have been shared with the men and women of Citroen Racing, mechanics and engineers, and also Danos (Loeb’s long-time rally co-driver Daniel Elena).

“These colleagues have become my friends, a second family as they say. I only have one thing to say: thank you.”