Citroën confirms its return in 2007

[redbaron]

Press release of Citroën:

FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) Citroën confirms its return in 2007 The World Council of the FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile) has just validated the main lines of the future technical and sporting regulations that will apply to the World Rally Championship (WRC). These notably include measures aimed at achieving significant cost savings. In November 2004, faced with the budgetary constraints associated with a presence in the World Rally Championship, the Chairman of the Managing Board of PSA Peugeot Citroën Jean Martin Folz announced that the two PSA Group brands could not take such costs onboard. The latest decisions, however, mean that the strategy laid down at the time by Monsieur Folz can now be applied Surveys conducted in-house by Citroën have clearly revealed that the WRC continues to stand out as the ideal form of motor sport for the brand. An official return to the series in 2007 was consequently possible so long as the overall budget it was necessary to invest was very significantly reduced. Today, thanks to the new regulations, these cost considerations have been met. "As a result, the decision to return to the World Rally Championship was taken very quickly," says Citroën Sport Director Guy Fréquelin. "The new regulations allow us to meet our budget targets. There is no longer anything standing in the way of our return to the sport. For the team, for the fans and for all those who have supported us during our past three complete seasons in the World Rally Championship, this decision couldn't have come at a better time. I am delighted." The 2006 season will consequently be a year of transition with, on the one hand, the presence of a Xsara WRC for Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena run by a private team and, on the other, the redeployment of the new Citroën C4 WRC's development programme. Citroen Sport will return to the championship full time from 2007. For Citroën, the pursuit of its commitment to rallying is in keeping with a veritable competition-related philosophy with a sport that has always fascinated, well beyond Citroën's two Manufacturers' titles in 2003 and 2004 and the two Drivers' crowns secured by Sébastien Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena in 2004 and 2005. Paris, October 26th 2005

It was a matter of time till this announcement would come. It was almost for sure they would return to the WRC in 2007, because it was announced the C4 WRC would be next years Rally Cross car of Citroen. Since the rally cross is used by Citroen for their WRC development for years, it was the major sign of their return.

[hamlet]

very good news indeed !!

I hope that they will use this coming year to improve the C4 and come back with a new good car, not like Peugeot after they change from the 206...

Let see...

[RAMMIUS]

Awesome for us

unfortunately for Ford and Subaru this is a sad moment

[redbaron]

Originally Posted by dani_d_mas Well - IMO all that "I leave - but I come back in 2007" is just bullshit. Citroën said that they were going to leave the champ at the end of 2005 - but for 2006 they had a "private" team running a Xsara for Seb Loeb - so in fact they're not leaving the championship. Same car, same mechanics, same staff, same engineers... come on, it's the same team!! :roll: When Mitsubishi said that they were retiring from the championship for 2003 - they actually did it, and then came back in 2005 with a crappy car - but this doesn't matter now

I don't agree about saying it is the same car, team etc. I think Citroen will use their team to develop the C4, to make it competitive for 2007. The Xsara will be run by Kronos or Oreca. These teams are satellite teams and have their own people, maybe some people of Citroen will join the team, but not all of them. I also don't think there will be a lot of development on the Xsara, because of that.

Like you said Mitsubishi cancelled the 2003 season to develop a radical new lancer for 2004. The car itself wasn't that bad but they have messed it all up by using the wrong kind of active diffs. I.M.O to develop a complete new competitive car, you have to spend all the time in developing the car instead of spreading the time over development of the new car and running the old car. This is what Peugeot did and their 307 failed.

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

I agree with dani....i mean, once citroen has got the best car so far in rallying, best team and the best driver, i think that citroen is going to take the advantage of this situation and its going to give its best for next year although (naturally) citroen is not going to present further evolutions for the xsara. Alongside this work, citroen is going to continue developing the C4; does anyone know if alongside Bugalski it has another rallying driver?