Archive for January, 2009

Rally Ireland. A new era with the Citroen Junior Team

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

The Citroen Junior Team will make its competition debut on the opening round of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, the Rally Ireland. Three Citroen C4 WRCs will be entrusted to Chris Atkinson/Stéphane Prevot, Conrad Rautenbach/Daniel Barritt and Sébastien Ogier/Julien Ingrassia.

Having claimed a fourth manufacturers’ title last year, Citroen has now entered a second team in this category for the 2009 season. Complementing the Citroen-Total World Rally Team, the Citroen Junior Team will reinforce the marque’s presence on the championship by providing a cradle for young talent.

Building on the foundations laid in 2008, the Citroen Junior Team will take the start of the first round of the year with three Citroen C4 WRCs. The crews of Australian Chris Atkinson and Belgian Stéphane Prevot (n.7), together with Zimbabwe’s Conrad Rautenbach and Briton Daniel Barritt have been chosen to score team points in the World Championship for Manufacturers. The French crew of Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia will drive the third Citroen C4 WRC, which wears number 11.

Rally Ireland marks the start of a season that will take in 12 rounds, and just like last year the rally route will run on roads through both the Republic of Ireland and also the United Kingdom. The fast, narrow and bumpy stages are guaranteed to pose a real challenge for the crews. The local weather at the end of January could well take in ice and snow – so all the drivers will be forced to think on their feet!

Chris Atkinson is the only member of the Citroen Junior Team to have already competed on the Rally Ireland, but he will be making his debut in the Citroen C4 WRC. After a test session earlier in January, the young Australian was already impressed. “I had a good feeling with the car straight away and I felt more and more comfortable with every kilometre that went by,” he said. “The Citroen C4 WRC is different to the other cars that I have driven before. The more I attack the better it seems to work.”

The Australian is now looking forward to a welcoming but challenging event. “There’s a fantastic atmosphere with a huge crowd,” he said. “The event itself is really tricky. The roads are bumpy and often very dirty. At this time of year, we might even find some ice. We’re going to start the event using settings that the team has already established from the past. Then, when it comes to the start of the rally, we will see how we are getting on. I’ve got no other aim other than just to score some points for the Citroen Junior Team and demonstrate our competitiveness compared to the other crews.”

Following his debut season in the Citroen C4 WRC last year, Conrad Rautenbach is planning to up his game in 2009. “I learnt a lot from last year,” he said. “That first season with Citroen Sport Technologies allowed me to gain a lot of experience. I now understand the C4 WRC and its behaviour a lot better.

This year, I’ll be able to push much harder in the places that I know well. Rally Ireland is certainly one of the most difficult events of the whole championship though. My primary objective will be to get to the finish with the aim of scoring points. I was able to see once more just how difficult the roads in Ireland were when I took part in national rally there in January, driving a Citroen Xsara WRC. The conditions were particularly difficult and I’m sure that will be the case again on the Rally Ireland next
week. The event also allowed me to get up to speed with my new co-driver, Daniel Barritt. So everything went really well.”

After clinching the 2008 Junior World Rally Championship in a Citroen C2 Super 1600, Sébastien Ogier will now tackle his first season at the wheel of a World Rally Car. “The 2009 season promises to be a nice one for me, thanks to a very good programme with the Citroen Junior Team,” he said. “I took part in the Ulster Rally last year with a Citroen C2-R2 MAX. It was my first experience of Irish roads, even though the profile of the World Rally Championship event there looks somewhat different. I think this is going to be a very complex rally, with some ice and frost expected at this time of year. The roads are
narrow and bumpy, plus they get dirty very quickly. By starting the first day around 10th on the road, we are sure to find some particularly delicate conditions. My key objective is to finish. I don’t have any real pressure in terms of results: I just need to keep making progress and learning as the event goes on.”

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Rally Ireland, Citroën and Loeb/Elena out to defend their titles

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

After the short, seven-week winter break, World Rally Championship action resumes in Ireland at the end of January. Following its exceptional 2008 campaign, which harvested 11 wins from 15 rounds, plus both world crowns, Citroën will be back to defend its two titles in 2009. As in previous years, the C4 WRCs officially representing the colours of the Citroën Total World Rally Team will be in the hands of five-time World Champions Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena and their team-mates Dani Sordo/Marc Marti.

The Rally Ireland, which first counted towards the WRC in 2007, not only returns to the calendar this year but also has the privilege of kicking off the 2009 championship. The route extends from the mountains of Sligo to the lakes of Fermanagh, with stages in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. The region’s fast yet narrow are famed for being very bumpy, but the terrain clearly suits the Citroën C4 WRC, since Sébastien Loeb and Dani Sordo came first and second on the 2007 event.

Even so, the Citroën Total WRT goes into this year’s encounter in the knowledge that nothing can be taken for granted. Didier Clément, the Operations Manager in charge of the C4 WRCs on events, underlines the two key features of this season’s curtain-raiser: “First of all, we will need to keep a close eye on the weather which promises to be variable and wet! And with temperatures potentially close to freezing point, ice and snow cannot be ruled out either. The main new parameter concerns the Pirelli tyres we will have for this unique situation, since crews will be able to choose between two products, the soft compound PZero patterned tyre and the non-studded Sotto Zero snow tyre. A test session in Ireland enabled us to fine-tune the C4 WRC’s set-up and also evaluate the performance of both types of tyre in the different conditions we are likely to encounter. We have prepared well, but nothing can ever replace actually competing to find out where you really stand.”

Although the cars don’t feature any major technical evolutions, a new system has been introduced with a view to enhancing crew safety. “The doors are now filled with high density foam aimed at absorbing impact energy in an accident. As a result, it is not possible to open the side windows which are now made from polycarbonate. This step forward was possible thanks to close collaboration between the FIA and the manufacturers,” explains Didier Clément.

Sébastien Loeb and Daniel Elena, who won the Rally Ireland in 2007, are glad to be contesting the event once again. “The first time we came here, the conditions were rather delicate, but everything went well for us and the result proved decisive in our bid to win a fourth world title,” recalls Seb. “This year’s championship kicks off with four rounds that weren’t on last year’s calendar, but they are not new territory because we did them all in 2007. And our objective hasn’t changed either: after notching up five consecutive world titles, we are obviously aiming for a sixth crown! It’s going to be an interesting season and I expect it to be very close. Mikko Hirvonen is improving all the time, while Jari-Matti Latvala has really come on, too. There are the other C4 WRC drivers as well, of course, starting with my own team-mate, Dani, and also Chris Atkinson.”

The Frenchman, who has scored 47 world class wins in the course of his career, expects the conditions to be particularly tricky in Ireland: “The event has everything it takes to be a tough rally. Pre-event testing has enabled us to optimise the stability of our C4 WRC. Dani feels the same way, but it’s only on the stages that we will really be able to see how effective our work has been.”

Despite the brevity of the winter break, Dani Sordo is eager to get back behind the wheel competitively: “As in previous years, the season begins on asphalt and that’s a good thing. I like the Irish stages, but the weather promises to make this year’s event difficult. OK, we will be able to choose between two types of tyre, but the Sotto Zero will only come into its own if it really snows. I have prepared hard for this rally, with a daily fitness training programme, plus some very fruitful testing.”

After securing the bronze medal in the 2008 World Championship, the Spaniard has his sights set high for this season: “To begin with, I will be out to score as many Manufacturers’ points as possible for Citroën. I finished third in last year’s Drivers’ standings and I would like to do at least as well this time round. And why not one step higher? I would also like to score my first WRC win this year.”

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