Motorsport

18th January 2007

Together with its star driver Seb­astien Loeb, the French firm dom­inated the sport between 2003 and 2005. The squad then took a sabbatical last year to give its team of engineers enough time to develop an all-new conten­der based on the C4 Coupé in preparation for a comeback at the start of this season.

The promising newcomer replaces Citroen’s record-breaking Xsara WRC, in which Loeb – with co-driver Daniel Elena at his side – won 28 events to become the most successful WRC competitor of all-time.
Despite racing a privately entered Xsara last year and missing the tail end of the season with a broken arm, the Frenchman retained his title by beating Finland’s Marcus Gron­holm into second – although Ford clinched the manufacturer’s crown.

Three-times world champ Loeb is now eager to rediscover his winning ways, but he readily admits that the new C4 may not be the finished article quite yet. “We will need a couple of rounds before we reach 100 per cent on all levels,” he confessed. “The C4 is longer, larger and the visibility out isn’t as good as it was in the Xsara, so it’s not quite as well suited to the WRC. But we’ve been working hard, and now I have a good feeling with the car, so we can be fairly optimistic.”