Citroën DS3 WRC

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Citroën
DS3 WRC at the Paris Motor Show
DS3 WRC at the Paris Motor Show
DS3 WRC
Production period: since 2010
Class : race car
Body versions : Station wagon
Engines: Otto engine :
1.6 liters (approx. 224 kW)
Length: 3948 mm
Width: 1820 mm
Height: 1400-1550 mm
Wheelbase : 2461 mm
Empty weight : 1200 kg
Previous model Citroën C4 WRC

The Citroën DS3 WRC was officially presented on January 24, 2011 in Paris . This World Rally Car was built by Citroën Racing to take part in the 2011 World Rally Championship with the Citroën World Rally Team . It is based on the Citroën DS3 series vehicle and is intended to succeed the Citroën C4 WRC .

After nine rallies, the DS3 achieved eight victories in a row at the 2011 World Rally Championship and the Citroën works team led the Manufacturers World Championship by 91 points. By winning the 2011 Rally Germany , Citroën became the most successful team in the history of the World Rally Championship. After Loeb's victory in the 2011 Rally Catalonia , the team won the team championship early. Sébastien Loeb won his eighth world title with this vehicle.

In its first outing in 2012 , Loeb won the Monte Carlo Rally in the DS3 WRC by 2 minutes 45 seconds. In the middle of the season, Loeb had five wins in a row. From the ninth of thirteen world championship races, Wales Rally GB onwards it was clear that only one DS3 WRC driver could achieve the drivers’s world championship title. After Loeb's victory in the Rally France , the team won the team championship and Loeb his ninth world championship title ahead of schedule.

development

After many manufacturers withdrew from the top class of rallying - most recently Subaru and Suzuki from the 2009 World Cup season  - the FIA was forced to act. Only Ford and Citroën were still active as vehicle manufacturers in the World Rally Championship with WRC racing cars. There began a noticeable decline in public interest, not least because of the seven  consecutive world championship titles - from Citroën works driver Sébastien Loeb - which some fans perceived as monotonous, and the associated six brand world championship titles of the Citroën Total World Rally Team . The FIA ​​made efforts to get new automakers to join the WRC. However, these were answered negatively for cost reasons and with reference to the global economic crisis.

The FIA ​​and the negotiating manufacturers came to the conclusion that new and far-reaching WRC regulations would have to be introduced in order to reduce costs. This could make the entry of new brands more attractive, because all participants would have to develop new vehicles equally. Private investors could also finance their participation in the events more easily and the sponsors would be relieved. Since 2011, the World Rally Cars have therefore also been based on the well-known Super 2000 regulations, albeit with 1600 cc engines with direct gasoline injection and turbocharging and an additional aerodynamics package. These vehicles are much closer to the production models than their predecessors. The inner workings of the S2000 and WRCs are largely identical. For the WRC, a S2000 (Class A2) vehicle must first be homologated, which is then upgraded to a WRC (Class A0). The development of the vehicle began under the direction of Citroën technology boss Xavier Mestelan-Pinon during 2010 by the Citroën pilots Sébastien Loeb , Sébastien Ogier , Dani Sordo and the test driver Philippe Bugalski as well as by Peugeot driver Kris Meeke and due to the company the former Formula 1 driver Stéphane Sarrazin . After the end of the development work, Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke switched to WRC competitor Mini at the end of the 2010 season , which will take part in the World Rally Championship with the Mini WRC from the 2011 Rally Sardinia .

technology

Sébastien Loeb in the Citroën DS3 WRC

The reinforced body, which is additionally stiffened with a safety cell made of steel tubes in the passenger compartment, is based on the DS3 from series production. However, they are heavily modified by Citroën Racing. These WRC class 0 vehicles are equipped with a safety package consisting of special seats, belts, fuel tanks, emergency stop switches (inside / outside), fire extinguishing system, etc.

The racing car must comply with the FIA ​​regulations for group A and be equipped with an additional Super 2000 kit . The series vehicle must have been produced at least 2500 times in the same units. Electronic driving aids such as the anti-lock braking system (ABS) and the electronic stability program (ESP) are not permitted. The vehicle has all-wheel drive and MacPherson struts with adjustable suspension and damping on the front and rear axles.

The four-cylinder 16V in-line gasoline engine of the DS3 WRC has gasoline direct injection and turbocharging, the boost pressure must not exceed 2.5 bar and the speed must be limited to 8500 rpm according to the regulations. The engine output is officially reduced to around 300 HP / 224 kW by means of a 33 mm air flow limiter . This power is available at 6000 rpm. The engine reaches its maximum torque of 350 Nm at 3250 rpm. The racing car is designed as a two-seater for driver and front passenger. The DS3 WRC was contractually equipped with Michelin tires for the 2011 World Cup season .

successes

2011

Sébastien Ogier in the DS3 WRC at the 2011 Rally Greece

2012

Mikko Hirvonen's first appearance in the DS3 WRC, Rallye Monte Carlo 2012

2013

Mikko Hirvonen in the DS3 WRC at the 2013 Rally France

2014

Mads Østberg in the DS3 WRC at the Rallye Deutschland 2014

2015

Teams and drivers 2011

Kimi Räikkönen is probably the best-known customer driver of the DS3 WRC

While the two French factory drivers Sébastien Loeb and Sébastien Ogier are paid by Citroën to represent the brand, there are also drivers who pay to be able to compete in the World Rally Championship in a Citroën DS3 WRC. The rally world champion of the 2003 season , Petter Solberg , started in his own team in all races of the 2011 season. At the Rallye Sardinia , the Rallye Australia and the Rallye France he achieved a third place each. A few hours after the rally, Petter Solberg was excluded from the event and his third place was denied. The reason was that the subsequent weighing found that his vehicle was four kilograms too light. Therefore, all drivers moved up one position from fourth place.

Solberg was the only privateer who could still keep up with the works drivers and was in fifth place in the world championship.

The former Formula 1 world champion Kimi Räikkönen founded his ICE ONE Racing WRT from 2011 to take part in ten planned races of the 2011 World Rally Championship . In 2011 Raikkonen scored points in all six WRC rallies contested so far and after the ninth round he was eighth in the drivers 'standings and fifth in the teams' standings. However, these points were withdrawn from his team by the FIA ​​on 9 September and it was removed from the World Cup team ranking. The reason for this and an additional fine of 16,200 euros was that he had not participated in the Rally Australia as planned . The regulations prescribe at least two races outside of Europe for a team that is registered for brand World Championship points. Raikkonen had entered Jordan for the Rally and Australia for the Rally, but had decided not to participate in Australia. Raikkonen is still eligible to start the remaining three races of the World Rally Championship.

In the Dutch team Van Merksteijn Motorsport , Peter van Merksteijn jr. and his father and team owner Peter van Merksteijn sr. at some selected races of the World Cup season.

team Mention as: tires Start number driver Co-driver Rallies 2011
FranceFrance Citroën World Rally Team Works team M. 01 FranceFrance Sébastien Loeb MonacoMonaco Daniel Elena 1-13
02 FranceFrance Sébastien Ogier FranceFrance Julien Ingrassia 1-13
FinlandFinland ICE 1 Racing WRT factory supported M. 08th FinlandFinland Kimi Raikkonen FinlandFinland Kaj Lindström 1, 3, 4, 7-9, 11-13
NorwayNorway Petter Solberg WRT 11 NorwayNorway Petter Solberg United KingdomUnited Kingdom Chris Patterson 1-13
NetherlandsNetherlands Van Merksteijn Motorsport Private team M. 14th NetherlandsNetherlands Peter van Merksteijn jr. BelgiumBelgium Eddy Chevaillier 3-7, 9-13
20th NetherlandsNetherlands Peter van Merksteijn sr. BelgiumBelgium Erwin Mombaerts 5, 7
Status after 13 of 13 rallies, 2011 season

Teams and drivers 2012

Citroën DS3 WRC at the IAA 2011

Works team

The Citroën Total World Rally Team starts again this season with series world champion Sébastien Loeb at the wheel of the Citroën DS3 WRC. In November 2011 it was announced that Ogier's contract had been terminated. For the 2012 season, Citroën signed long-time Ford works driver Mikko Hirvonen as the new number 2 driver alongside Loeb. Citroën team boss Olivier Quesnel announced that three DS3 WRCs will be at the start from Rally Sweden . Nasser Al-Attiyah will initially take part in the Dakar Rally and then contest 12 races of the World Rally Championship.

PH Sports

The former supporters of Loeb, Dominique Heintz and Bernard Piallat, from the PH Sport team will start the Rallye Monte Carlo with two DS3 WRCs in the World Rally Championship. In 2012, the young Belgian talent Thierry Neuville was given the chance to prove himself in the World Rally Championship. His vehicle will be named Citroën Junior Team under the team name . Nine to ten starts are planned; No participation is planned in New Zealand, and if it is successful, Neuville will also have the opportunity to take part in the World Rally Championship races in Italy and Spain. It is planned to use the Dutch Peter van Merksteijn senior and Peter van Merksteijn junior as the second driver of the team at irregular intervals . Their DS3 will then appear in the entry list as Van Merksteijn Motorsport .

2013 to 2015 season

Loeb / Elena at the 2015 Monte Carlo Rally

In 2013 , the nine-time world champion Sébastien Loeb no longer drove the entire season. He won two of four rallies in Monte Carlo and Argentina , finished second in the Sweden Rally and retired in France . The duo Loeb / Daniel Elena finished eighth in the drivers' world championship with 68 points. Mikko Hirvonen and Daniel Sordo drove the works team's DS3 WRC for the entire season . Hirvonen was fourth in the drivers' championship with 126 points and Sordo was fifth with 123 points. The Citroën works team ended the year in second place in the manufacturers' world championship with 118 points. For the 2014 World Rally Championship , Kris Meeke and Mads Østberg took over the cars for the works team. The drivers could not achieve more than second and third places. With a narrow lead of two World Championship points in the Manufacturers World Championship, the second place from the previous year could be defended in front of the private M-Sport World Rally Team.

A guest performance was Sébastien Loeb in 2015 in the World Rally Championship . At the Monte Carlo Rally Loeb challenged Sébastien Ogier and he led the rally at times. After an accident, Loeb was finally classified in eighth place. Otherwise, as in 2014, Kris Meeke and Mads Østberg drove the cars. Although the Citroën works team was again runner-up in the manufacturers' world championship with a six point lead over M-Sport, it was 183 points short of world champion Volkswagen .

2016 and 2017 season

The manufacturer Citroën has made a long-term commitment to the World Rally Championship (WRC) and is developing a new vehicle for the new technical regulations that will apply from 2017. During this development period, however, Citroën paused and will not start the 2016 season as a works team. With the decision to stay in the WRC, Citroën ended its involvement in the WTCC after the 2016 season. After dominating the WTCC in the last two seasons, 2016 will be over after the end of the third year. Mads Østberg has left the team because he wants to run a full-time program in the 2016 season. Østberg returned to M-Sport , where Ott Tänak could not recommend himself in the past season.

Kris Meeke , Stéphane Lefebvre , Khalid Al Qassimi and Craig Breen contest alternately world championship races for Citroën . The four drivers are behind the wheel of the 2015 Citroën DS3 WRC . The operations are organized and accompanied by the private PH team. The team officially appears under the name Abu Dhabi Total WRT .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Citroen-WRC - website: technical-data-sheet. Archived from the original on July 8, 2011 ; Retrieved December 7, 2012 .
  2. ↑ Presentation on January 24th in Paris (Motorsport-Total.com on January 24th, 2011; accessed on February 21st, 2011)
  3. ↑ Citroen-WRC.com (accessed February 21, 2011)
  4. ^ "Exit of Subaru and Suzuki from the WRC" (Motorsport-Total.com on December 16, 2008; accessed on February 22, 2011)
  5. ^ "WRC regulations 2011" (Motorsport-Total.com; accessed on February 21, 2011)
  6. ↑ FAQ WRC regulations 2011 (accessed on February 21, 2011)
  7. ↑ WRC regulations as of January 2011 (Motorsport Total.com accessed on February 22, 2011)
  8. ^ Citroën World Rally Team , accessed February 21, 2011.
  9. ↑ FAQ WRC regulations 2011 (Motorsport-Total.com as of January 2011; accessed on February 21, 2011)
  10. ↑ Solberg's car too light ( Memento from October 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Rallye-Magazin.de on October 2, 2011)
  11. ^ Punishment against Raikkonen ( Memento from November 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (Rallye-Magazin.de on September 9, 2011)
  12. ↑ Raikkonen's team hit with penalty (wrc.com on September 10, 2011)
  13. ↑ Drivers and teams (wrc.com on 14 February 2011; accessed on 21 February 2011)
  14. ↑ wrc.com status (current) (wrc.com on February 14, 2011; accessed on February 22, 2011)
  15. ↑ Hirvonen replaces Ogier at Citroen (wrc.com on November 16, 2011)
  16. ↑ Al-Attiyah with Citroën cockpit ( Memento from January 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (Rallye-Magazin.de on December 16, 2011)
  17. ↑ motorsport-total.com: New car in development: Citroen stays true to the WRC! , accessed November 28, 2015
  18. ↑ motorsport-total.com: Citroen has four drivers rotating in the WRC in 2016 , accessed on December 19, 2015.

Web links

Commons : Citroën DS3 WRC  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files