All-new Citroën can shine in ERC, says development boss

That’s the view of Pierre Budar, Development Director, Customer Racing Vehicles, Citroën Racing after Yoann Bonato enjoyed a trouble-free outing on Rallye du Var last month.

Having already sewn up his national title, Bonato and Citroën used the closing round of the French championship to showcase the C3 R5 as one of the course-opening cars.

“Apart from the interest sparked among the fans and the world of motorsport, this appearance was very pleasing from a technical point of view,” said Budar. “We had no reliability problems at all and were able to work in a relaxed manner on various set-ups, adapting the car to roads that were smooth in places and very uneven in others.

“The changing conditions and the specific racing situations enabled us to test and even approve several points with certainty. The first impression of the car’s performance compared with the other models in the R5 category is also positive.”

Yves Matton, Citroën Racing Team Principal, added: “These three days of full-scale testing helped us to confirm and build on what [we] had learned in the last few development sessions. We have reached another important milestone and the technical team will keep working in the same direction to ensure we provide our customers with a highly accomplished product.”